Redwood Team Wins State Quiz Bowl
A team of sixth-graders from Redwood Middle School beat more than 1,000 students from across the state to win the Thinking Cap Quiz Bowl.
Ninety teams, working remotely from their own schools, faced a barrage of 100 questions in a computer-based quiz format that tested their knowledge, cooperation, accuracy and speed on a variety of subjects. The academic competition is now in its 10th year.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. March 26, 1999 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Friday March 26, 1999 Ventura County Edition Metro Part B Page 3 Zones Desk 1 inches; 31 words Type of Material: Correction
Quiz team--The names of two students on a team from Redwood Middle School in Thousand Oaks that won the statewide Thinking Cap Quiz Bowl were misspelled in a story Thursday. The correct spellings are Nancy Wang and Susan Duan.
Redwood’s 16-member team practiced for three weeks before last month’s competition, where they faced 100 questions shown on a computer screen. The students had 60 seconds to answer each question correctly to receive 10 points. If the correct answers were made within five seconds, a team could earn up to five bonus points.
The new state champs answered 97 of the questions correctly and received 1,269 points out of a possible 1,500.
“I watched them practice a few times; they were hitting the answer before I had the question,” said Tim Carpenter, Redwood’s principal.
Easier questions from the test included: Which U.S. state borders four of the Great Lakes? A: Michigan. B: Wisconsin. C: New York. D: Illinois. E: Minnesota. (A is correct). Which of the following is not a fossil fuel? A: petroleum. B: natural gas. C: coal. D: uranium. E: propane. (D is correct). What is “Garfield’s” favorite food? A: Oreos. B: spaghetti. C: lasagna. D: jelly beans. E: pizza. (C is correct).
Carpenter said although the academic side of the competition was important, teamwork and learning to appreciate one another were equally so.
“They are very bright kids. They came in as 16 individuals, and they learned quickly they were not going to get anywhere if they didn’t work together as a team,” he said.
Members of Redwood’s team were Nancy Wong, Catherine Bradshaw, Susan Puan, Jamie Nakagiri, Nicole Fung, Kelsey Davis, Travis Heller, Daniel Murch, Jason Hale, Tim Cullen, Andrew Bouchard, Mani Gandham, Phillip Horlings, Charles Hyun, Adam Cross and Sean Fahey.
“It was really cool,” said Phillip, 11.
“It felt really good because out of 90 schools, we got first,” said 12-year-old Daniel.