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- Knowledge Bowl
Minnesota Valley Invitational at Holy Family Catholic
Posted by Vicky Harris on 12/2/2012 2:03:42 PM
Meet for High School only on Tuesday, November 27
This meet was new for us, and somewhat of an experiment. It was rather large, with 48 teams, and I learned at the coaches' meeting that it is notable for two unusual features - that the meet questions will have themes that you don't know ahead of time, and that the meal is excellent. Although the meet started after school, it had the advantage of having a short drive, so we were back at GSL by 9:30 or so.
Although the coach told us in the invitation that they write their own questions, the impact of that is hard to imagine ahead of time. The themes this year included coins, birds, Hindu mythology and branches of arithmetic.. There were questions about historical coins (for instance, What do you get if you subtract six bits from a quarter eagle? The answer is $1.75.) There were many questions about Hindu mythology, which was certainly not a strong point for any of us! Also, questions about branches of mathematics, such as trigonometry and arithmetic. And many questions about birds (one surprising team result was to correctly guess wood duck when told what the bird is called in Mexico.)
Students from other schools told me that last year's meet featured Norse mythology and shellfish.
There was an excellent meal, including pasta, chili, and various soups, apparently provided by friends or family of Knowledge Bowl, but we don't know the details. In any case, food was served (and eaten) relatively quickly.
Partly because I underestimated the size an difficulty of the meet, our team composition was not optimal. Because of this our three teams finished in the middle third of the field. On the other hand, we have two more meets in our region in the next two weeks at which we will probably do better.
What I am sure about: This was an unusual and interesting start to the season. I look forward to more bus rides and more meets!