High Life / A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : Loara Team Misses Mark by 1 Point

While it may seem trivial to some, question-and-answer games became serious business to Loara High School’s Kiwanis Bowl team.

After victories in the Orange County Kiwanis Bowl in March and against Clark County High School, Nevada’s champions, Loara’s team competed in June’s Texaco Star National Academic Championship at Rice University in Houston.

Up against 82 teams from 31 states that had won 16 or more competitive tournaments, Loara defeated Aiken High from South Carolina and Centennial High from Nebraska, but lost in a tiebreaker to Edmond Memorial from Oklahoma. Loara missed, by one point, advancing out of the first round with 30 other teams.

Loara’s team consisted of Joyzelle Davis (geography), John Seng (math and science), Chris Spiro (fine arts) and Van Tran (world culture, history, music), along with alternate Jayson Fagden (sports).

“It’s not what we don’t know that hurts, it’s what we know that ain’t so.”

--Will Rogers (1879-1935)