Scholastic Bowl: What’s All the Buzz About?

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Junior Andrew Trenta, senior Alex Boskov, and juniors Dylan Mahoney and Joey Alvestad conversing at a home meet.

The Scholastic Bowl team is home to some of the most knowledgeable, quick-witted students at York. Competing in strenuous meets frequently against our West Suburban Conference rivals, this group is working hard to always have the upper hand against their competitors through the conference meet in February.

The style of competition for scholastic bowl is similar to that of jeopardy; where students can ring a buzzer at any point the proctor is reading a trivia question if they know the answer. Topics for questions involve a variety of academic subjects, such as science, literature, current events, history, sports, pop culture, and much more.

Senior Alex Boskov and junior Dylan Mahoney captain the squad this season. They currently have a record of 2 wins, 3 losses. Their most recent competition was a home meet.

“The Varsity is 2-2 going into tonight’s match against Lyons and Glenbard West, two formidable foes,” club sponsor Mr. Bendelow said, before the home meet. “We’re captained on the Varsity by Senior Alex Boskov and Junior Dylan Mahoney. The Varsity has strong support from Juniors Joey Alvestad, Aaron Ludkowski, and Andrew Trenta.”

While the team ended up losing this meet, they still have time left in the season to polish their record.

“We compete until after winter break until our conference meet,” captain Alex Boskov said. “Sometimes, we have a meet with the teachers for fun.”

Leading up to the conference meet, the team will be practicing two times a week. The group’s dedication contributes to their success, as well as their strong sense of community and camaraderie.

“I have been in Scholastic Bowl since freshman year and even though I’m the only senior there, it is a really nice community with a ton of different kinds of kids who all share competitiveness and curiosity,” Boskov said.

While Scholastic Bowl is somewhat of a best-kept secret here at York, the club is always trying to gain more intelligent and competitive members.

“People should join because it really is a lot of fun,” Boskov said. “You might not view yourself as curious, but everyone is. You might not view yourself as especially good at trivia, but we all fill our own niches. Geography, math, sports questions… it’s truly a club for everyone.”