Concordia Hosts First Geography/History Quiz Bowl on Campus

November 11, 2015

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Almost 150 students from across Nebraska participated in the first Concordia University Geography/History Quiz Bowl on Concordia University’s campus on Wednesday, Nov. 11 in an all-day quiz bowl competition at the Thom Leadership Education Center.  The event featured teams from various high schools in two competitions –one for large schools and one for small schools, with teams answering questions centering on history and geography.  The teams each played four rounds of competition in a morning “round robin” event-with afternoon placement based on wins, losses and points generated from the questions.

Winning the tourney for the large school was Bellevue East High School-Team A, followed by Gretna High Team A in second place, York High Team B in third place and Greta High Team B in Fourth place.  In the small school division, Arlington High won first place, followed by Friend High Team A in second place, third place was won by Kearney Catholic High Team A and fourth place went to Howells/Dodge High Team A.  Trophies were awarded to the first and second place team in each division and the first place team members were each presented with a Concordia University medal recognizing their achievement.

Area high schools participating in the event included Gretna, York, Seward, Bellevue East, Columbus, Grand Island Northwest, Ralston, Norris, Arlington, Howells/Dodge, Friend, Kearney Catholic and McCool Junction.  The Concordia University Geography and History Department sponsored the new quiz bowl competition under the direction of Dr. Joel Helmer of the CU Geography Department and Dr. John Hink of the CU History Department.  Charles Gephardt served as the official Quiz Bowl Master for the contest and Clark Kolterman assisted with arrangements.

The official welcome was presented to the students by Scott Severs, Senior Vice President of Concordia University-Enrollment, Management, and Marketing, along with Dr. Joel Helmer, Chair of the Geography/History Department of Concordia University.  The Concordia University Admissions Department hosted a luncheon at the Janzow Campus Center for all the students and coaches in attendance over their noon hour lunch break.

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Serving as readers and judges for the CU History/Geography Quiz Bowl were volunteers Pat Ohlmann, Bonnie Kruse, and Sue Imig all of Seward, Aaron Buchholz-CU Student Teacher of History-currently at Seward High, David Bossman of Bellevue and Brad Nord of Gretna.  Serving as timers and scorers were SHS volunteer student helpers Chase Prochnow, Clint Koetter, Wyatt Schafer, Clarke Chandler, Jake Marshall, Garrett Kuss, Thomas Ringler, Nolan Homp, Kiernan Baker, Jack Yelden, and Kevin Lyon.

Seward High’s High Ability Learner Program (HAL) sponsored two teams for the History/Geography quiz bowl at Concordia University.   SHS Quiz Bowl Team A was Evan Mettenbrink, Will Helmer, Will Brown, Josh Hendrickson and Ben Galusha.  SHS Quiz Bowl Team B’s membership consisted of Montana Hill, Megan Runyan, Nate Ketner, Daniel Peterson and Bryson Schluckebier.  Both Seward teams competed in the morning round robin event featuring four rounds and afternoon single elimination tourney, with the Seward B team losing in the afternoon to Columbus Team A-95 to 65, and the Seward A Team defeated