Momentum building with HTHS Scholars Bowl program

Wei Wei Guo said the Hewitt-Trussville High School Scholars Bowl team is special because of how much each member supports the other, sometimes hyping teammates up long enough to miss part of the next question.

“But I think we’re getting better at keeping our cheering a bit shorter,” she said.

Well, all that cheering has been warranted.

This school year, the varsity team won the LAMP Invitational, its first victory in varsity competition. The varsity team also placed third at the West Point Spring Invitational. The junior varsity team defeated Spain Park High School’s junior varsity team to win the West Point Winter Invitational. In all, the team competed in nearly a dozen tournaments.

“I knew that this year’s team would be special when they all showed up for our ‘summer camp’ at HTHS,” said Josh Haynes, the team’s coach. “We lost some great players due to graduation last year. Brennan Boeker was one of the greatest players that I have ever had, and I think that we all sort of wondered how we were going to replace a player as great as he was for our school. I challenged the team to step up and pick up where Brennan left off, and they definitely rose to the occasion. I especially knew my JV team was going to be special. The JV team is a team of all sophomore girls, which is definitely a rarity in Scholars Bowl since most teams are made up of mostly boys. I think that they feel a little extra motivation to show off what they can do in Scholars Bowl.”

Varsity team members include J.P. Campbell, Evan Moore, Juliana Eberhardt, Sarah Prince, Jacob Copham and Abigail Mitchell. Junior varsity team members are Eberhardt, Prince, Guo, Laura Phillips, Madison Morris, Andrew Brien, Katie Kalchik and Maddie Mann.

Both teams were slated to compete at the state championship tournament, but the season was halted in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Haynes, the 2019-20 Teacher of the Year at Hewitt-Trussville High School, started the Scholars Bowl program back up in 2013, his second year at the high school. He had been asked about the possibility of coaching football, a sport he loves, but he had no clue how to teach the game. Haynes knew that becoming more involved with a team or program at the school would be good for him.

“I met with Coach Hal Riddle about coaching over lunch one day,” Haynes said. "Coach Riddle was so approachable and encouraging to me. He told me that I would be unhappy if I did not have a passion for football and for the players. He encouraged me to find something that I was passionate about — regardless if it was football or something else — and to stick with it.”

At the same time, Haynes had just finished reading “The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth,” a book that advocated for using untapped potential of a high school’s population that sometimes goes unnoticed.

“I became inspired to find a way to harness the potential of Hewitt-Trussville’s brightest students and then highlight that same talent to the rest of the state,” Haynes said. “Therefore, I decided to start a Scholars Bowl team. I felt, and still do feel, that Trussville has all of the resources to compete with Alabama’s best schools.”

The process of starting his first team was not easy. Haynes had no Scholars Bowl experience. Surrounding schools did not have teams. Aside from guidance of one veteran coach he met, Haynes had to learn most everything on his own. He researches topics not usually covered in the regular classroom, a challenging part of the job. Once he discovers those topics, he breaks them down into short summaries, highlights the clues that indicates the answers to questions, and then makes resources to help reinforce the material to the students.

“I have had to become a student of sorts myself when preparing for Scholars Bowl,” Haynes said. “I have watched YouTube videos of Scholars Bowl matches, scoured countless quiz databases for clues, read books from former "Jeopardy" contestants, and made sure to study the tendencies and behaviors of some of the state’s best teams.”

The team practiced Monday and Wednesday afternoons for close to two hours. Of course, team members spend more time on their own studying. Moore said he takes three to five quizzes and looks up additional information on topics. Each student focuses on his or her own subject specialties.

“Others should take notice of Scholars Bowl because how we perform is not just a reflection on ourselves as individuals, but also on our school and community,” Campbell said. “Academic competitions can say just as much or even more than athletic competitions about a school. Now sure, we don’t compete in an environment where thousands of people can watch us, but we take pride in every game we play that we represent not just Hewitt-Trussville High School but also the entire city of Trussville.”

The team also qualified for the 2020 NAQT High School National Championship Tournament in Atlanta, but the pandemic prevented them from competing. Haynes said he urges his players to disregard scores, trophies and statistics during competition and instead focus on answering the next question correctly. He does not expect perfection, but he does expect great effort.

“My greatest hope is that my team members know that Scholars Bowl is their place, and that the good times they have with each other will always outlast trophies,” Haynes said.

That influence is apparent, given the way team members speak about their participation in Scholars Bowl.

“This team is amazing because it consists of people focused on being the best that they can be while also helping their teammates succeed as best as they can,” Morris said.

Phillips’ hope mirrors that of her coach.

“My hope is that we will play well and increase our confidence in our abilities,” she said. “We will achieve this by continuing to expand our knowledge base and growing together as a team.”