Knowledge is the key to success

The Minneota Junior High Knowledge Bowl teams concluded their season recently, with Team Blue placing second from among 50 teams in the Super Regionals Jan. 4 at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall.

Minneota had two junior high teams participate this season.

Team Blue finished first in several of the invitationals they competed in. In the Region 8 competition Dec. 19 at SMSU, Team Blue placed fifth out of 60 teams to qualify for the Super Regionals, while Team Gold placed 52nd.

Team Blue, which consists of students that were previously on Minneota Knowledge Bowl teams, featured freshmen Benjamin Engels, Reid Fier and Audra Buysse; and eighth-graders Jonah Gruenes and Alyssa Engels. Team Gold members are all new to knowledge bowl this year.

Team Gold was comprised of eighth-grader Noel Peterson and sixth-graders Keaton Jurrens, Gus VanHecke and Joseph Voit.

All of the members of Team Gold are newcomers to Knowedge Bowl.

A Knowledge Bowl meet consists of the team working cooperatively through one written and four oral rounds of competition. The students use quick recall, problem solving, and critical thinking skills to answer general knowledge questions.

The questions asked of the knowledge bowl students were anything but easy. Consider these few samples: In 1902, Ernest Shackleton was part of Robert Scott’s expedition to Antarctica.

They reached the latitude of 82 degrees, 16 minutes and 33 second south. They were how many degrees, minutes and seconds from the pole? … Answer: 7 degrees, 43 minutes and 27 seconds.

Drake’s Bay, the probable North American landing site of Francis Drake in the 16th century, is located in what U.S. State? … Answer: California.

How many U.S. censuses were taken between 1895 and 1935? … Answer: 4.

“The Fellowship of the Ring” is the first and “The Return of the King” is the third. What is the second book in the trilogy by JRR Tolkien? … Answer: “The Two Towers”.

Senior High Knowledge Bowl begins

The Minneota Senior High Knowledge Bowl teams had their first meet of the season on Jan. 8. Minneota Team Blue placed 12th and Team Gold was 15th out of 22 participating teams at Marshall.

Team Blue is comprised of: Isaac Hennen, Hunter Fier and Kyle Banks. Team Gold’s members are: Trevor Belaen, Niles Genzler, Jaymes Moon and Reid Fier.

The Senior High's next meet is scheduled for Jan. 22 at Lakeview High School in Cottonwood, followed by a meet Jan. 29 in Marshall and a Feb. 5 home meet.

All competitions begin at 7 p.m.