Dear community,
We thank you very much for supporting the Iola High School History Bowl Team.
This past weekend was the National History Bowl in Washington, D.C. We won four and lost six rounds in the round-robin style preliminary qualifier for the top 32 places of the final tournament. Unfortunately, we did not qualify for one of those 32 places for the tournament. Out of 138 varsity teams from around the United States and Guam, we placed in the upper half. This is great, considering that this was our first year of competition, the questions were very difficult, and the competitors were the best in America.
When compared with other small schools, we did very well. It is also exciting to know that the Iola team had the best record of the four schools representing Kansas (Chanute. Louisburg, and Gardner-Edgerton were the other three).
We would like to extend a special thanks to the Allen County Historical Society and all those who helped with fundraising. The Allen County Sheriff’s Department also deserves added thanks for providing much of the financial support for us to make our trip. Also, our teachers, Mr. Hermstein and Mr. Fehr, deserve an extra special thanks for going through the difficulty of organizing our trip, fundraising, teaching us the material, educating us while in the nation’s capitol, and putting up with five stinky boys who could each eat a horse.
Washington, D.C. was a great experience, and for us History Bowl competitors, the history which we were able to explore while at the many museums and monuments was very exciting. All in all, this trip was a great learning experience.
We now know what to expect and what to study so that we may be able to better perform next year.
More important, our immersion in our nation’s history at the Capitol was a great learning opportunity. Again, we thank you very much for your support of the History Bowl Team.
Sincerely,
Brad Bazo. Elijah Grover, Cody Cokely. Jason Tidd, and Tristan Sigfusson
