Middle Grades/Jr. High Quizbowl

prewitt81 · Post by **prewitt81** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:31 am

How many states have active state-sponsored (or otherwise) Middle Grades/Jr. High quizbowl programs?

dtaylor4 · Post by **dtaylor4** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:35 am

Illinois does.

bigtrain · Post by **bigtrain** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:40 am

As far as I know, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia do not.

NoahMinkCHS · Post by **NoahMinkCHS** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:46 am

Georgia has a fairly active circuit in that age range.

All public middle schools (and almost all public elementary schools) in my home county have teams -- something that, unfortunately, hasn't been true of our high schools in years. IIRC, in middle school, we usually went to 6-8 tournaments per year.

Edit, in re: to first post -- Middle school qb in Ga., like high school qb here, is not state-sponsored and relies on the schools and organizations like GATA and a professional association of educators, both of which sponsor middle school state tournaments. (GATA also does 2 HS state tournaments, while the educators' group chooses to spend their HS money on academic decathlon.

)

ASimPerson · Post by **ASimPerson** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 2:28 am

In Alabama, ASCA runs middle school championship consisting of a regional and state level tournament.

David Riley · Post by **David Riley** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:28 pm

Amdending DaGeneral's post: Illinois does, but the most active teams in our middle/jr high program (called the IESA--Illinois Elementary School Association, by the way) are, ironically enough, downstate. The northastn area of Illinois (Chicago and its suburbs) are barely active at all despite being very active in the high school arena.

fluffy4102 · Post by **fluffy4102** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 2:02 pm

Romero is starting it up in Texas. We just used to have one tournament in Middle School: the Strake Jesuit Tournament. It was crude, the questions were easy, and teams cheated. Really sad. The good thing is that Romero runs good tournaments.

sabine01 · Post by **sabine01** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 11:53 am

So far as I know (and this is personal knowledge from my time in South Carolina), South Carolina does not have anything state-sponsored for Middle-Schoolers. I can always be incorrect or outdated, so anyone still in SC feel free to correct me. ;)

Plenty of single-subject tournaments and locally-run competitions like Trident Technical College's QUEST competition (Anyone around the Charleston, SC area know if Trident still hosts this?)

~Tricia~

ProsperoSMS · Post by **ProsperoSMS** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 12:20 pm

North Carolina (which barely has a state-sponsored Quiz Bowl competition) has no structured middle school competition. There are some things which feed players up, such as the NC History Bowl, sponsored by the Social Studies Teachers' Association.

Manyo2 · Post by **Manyo2** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 12:41 pm

Kentucky has a fairly active state-sponsored middle school circuit.

ksattelmeyer · Post by **ksattelmeyer** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:35 pm

QUEST appears to still be in existence: http://archives.postandcourier.com/arch ... 3214.shtml

orangecrayon · Post by **orangecrayon** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 2:14 pm

Oklahoma doesn't have a junior-high program that's officially sponsored by the state, but there are a few state-wide (or some semblance thereof) programs at that level (i.e. OJABA, OAAC) that are privately run.

AKKOLADE · Post by **AKKOLADE** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 2:18 pm

West Virginia has a fairly organized MS circuit. I just ran the first state championship for this level back in May.

sabine01 · Post by **sabine01** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 5:42 pm

ksattelmeyer wrote:QUEST appears to still be in existence: http://archives.postandcourier.com/arch ... 3214.shtml

Glad to Know. :)

Me = Summerville HS Alumna and Former QUESTor for them. Glad to know they're still on the podium...

~T~

genius00345 · Post by **genius00345** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 2:28 am

Missouri does not sponsor a state championship tournament for middle school teams, but many schools have teams that compete against one another, using the MSHSAA (high school) rules.

Our school organized a round-robin tournament for MSs in our county, but such tournaments are sporadic and aren't state organized.

ksattelmeyer · Post by **ksattelmeyer** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 7:00 am

Me = Summerville HS Alumna and Former QUESTor for them. Glad to know they're still on the podium...

Sadly, my old school (Stratford) has been dethroned.

sabine01 · Post by **sabine01** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 7:24 am

ksattelmeyer wrote:
Me = Summerville HS Alumna and Former QUESTor for them. Glad to know they're still on the podium...
Sadly, my old school (Stratford) has been dethroned.

Had some good friends on Stratford's teams... but they graduated when I did -- in 1997. What year were you?

~Trish~

Encyclopedia Brown · Post by **Encyclopedia Brown** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:02 pm

No one in Virginia does. However, I did see an SOL prep quizbowl for middle schools on Henrico County's educational access channel. It inspired me to talk to the producers of Battle of the Brains or to the middle schools in Hanover and Henrico Counties about starting official quizbowls. It would help Richmond-area high schools recruit.

ksattelmeyer · Post by **ksattelmeyer** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 7:02 am

1996 here.

quizbowllee · Post by **quizbowllee** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 11:55 pm

Yeah - Alabama's middle school circuit is pretty huge. Back when I ONLY coached a middle school team, we often went to over a dozen tournaments a year - all in Alabama.

Oddly, some of the best middle school teams feed into high schools with pretty poor teams (or no team at all)...

STPickrell · Post by **STPickrell** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 pm

VHSL rules allow 8th graders to play Scholastic Bowl; sadly some schools aren't 100% aware of this. There are quite often logistical issues, where it's hard for 8th graders to get to the high school to practice with the HS team. I know one player for R.E. Lee was specifically invited by the coaches to play in 8th grade, he started on their 'A' team as a 9th grader.

insaneindian · Post by **insaneindian** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:12 pm

delaware used to have a middle school tournament, hosted by texaco. it was gone by the team i was in middle school (5-6 yrs ago) so now my team hosts a middle school tournament

mlaird · Post by **mlaird** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 4:35 pm

David Riley wrote:Amdending DaGeneral's post: Illinois does, but the most active teams in our middle/jr high program (called the IESA--Illinois Elementary School Association, by the way) are, ironically enough, downstate. The northastn area of Illinois (Chicago and its suburbs) are barely active at all despite being very active in the high school arena.

Further amendments:
I went to Chicago Public Schools and they do have a circuit there. Mr. R may not be aware of it seeing as Public schools aren't invited to our jr. high tournament. I was on our school's first team and all we played was the city tournament. I think that there might have been a state tournament after that, but we didn't make it. I know that at least my old team is still active, because they played at Notre Dame's (HS) jr. high tournament.

btressler · Post by **btressler** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 9:22 am

insaneindian wrote:delaware used to have a middle school tournament, hosted by texaco. it was gone by the team i was in middle school (5-6 yrs ago) so now my team hosts a middle school tournament

To add to (I presume) Abhi's thought, after much delay the Charter Challenge questions from April made it onto the webpage.

http://home.earthlink.net/~charterquiz/Questions.html

The format is vaguely based on various tv formats with two team rounds and two tossup rounds.

Anyone interested in obtaining a future set of questions to hold a tournament should contact the team: charterquiz at earthlink dot net. We are willing to barter. If all goes well, there will be fall and spring sets of questions this year.

Bill Tressler,
Charter School of Wilmington, DE

quiz4life · Post by **quiz4life** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 5:55 am

Where do these MS/JHS tournaments get there questions? What formats(s) are used? Bill-nice site!
Thanks,
Michael Harvey
American Community School
Abu Dhabi, UAE

AKKOLADE · Post by **AKKOLADE** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 10:40 am

quiz4life wrote:Where do these MS/JHS tournaments get there questions? What formats(s) are used?

About half of the tournaments I've run in the past have been house-authored, with the other half provided by a question provider I really can't recommend and have no plans on using again in the future.

quiz4life · Post by **quiz4life** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 3:13 am

Fred,
Would you please email me off list at my school address and let me know which question provider you would not use and why? I have found a few question providers (But I am looking for more so keep those suggestions coming!) [email protected]
Thanks,
Michael

AKKOLADE · Post by **AKKOLADE** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 12:42 pm

quiz4life wrote:Fred,
Would you please email me off list at my school address and let me know which question provider you would not use and why? I have found a few question providers (But I am looking for more so keep those suggestions coming!) [email protected]
Thanks,
Michael

Consider yourself e-mailed.

insaneindian · Post by **insaneindian** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 12:54 pm

our team members wrote the questions for our tournament.

quizbowllee · Post by **quizbowllee** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 10:58 am

Out of curiosity - NAQT had once talked about hosting a Middle School National Championship. Does anyone know if they are still considering this, or did they kill the idea? I'd be interested in such an event and would be willing to help organize it.

Tegan · Post by **Tegan** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 11:59 am

mlaird wrote:
David Riley wrote:Amdending DaGeneral's post: Illinois does, but the most active teams in our middle/jr high program (called the IESA--Illinois Elementary School Association, by the way) are, ironically enough, downstate. The northastn area of Illinois (Chicago and its suburbs) are barely active at all despite being very active in the high school arena.
Further amendments:
I went to Chicago Public Schools and they do have a circuit there

And to further ammend:

1. While Northern Illinois only makes up a small percentage of the middle school circuit, they have been relatively successful at the state level. Rockford and the Northwest Suburbs (read: feeder schools for Auburn and Stevenson) have been quite successful over the years. Not only that, but in jsut the last five years, the number of middle schools competing in the IESA state series in Northern Illinois have increased quite a bit, though generally in the south and southwest suburbs. The gold coast and the gold prairie are still underrepresented.

2. Matt Laird went to a Chicago public school??? What other startling revelations are to come ..... that urban sophisticate/Hungarian noble David Riley grew up KENTUCKY?! I guess it just goes to prove: stereotypes just don't compute!

prewitt81 · Post by **prewitt81** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 12:20 pm

quizbowllee wrote:Out of curiosity - NAQT had once talked about hosting a Middle School National Championship. Does anyone know if they are still considering this, or did they kill the idea? I'd be interested in such an event and would be willing to help organize it.

I started this thread for a similar purpose. I have toyed with the idea of trying to hold a Middle Grades National Academic Tournament or MGNAT (pronounced "emm - nat" -- catchy, huh?) I knew that Georgia and Alabama had programs, and I was assistant coach of the State MS runners-up for Kentucky last year, but I wasn't sure about anywhere else. Now all I have left to do is find an infinite supply of money and a good place to host it. :)

MahoningQuizBowler · Post by **MahoningQuizBowler** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 1:04 pm

I'm looking to organize a county championship for middle schools. To the best of my knowledge, no schools have a team except for the ones who threw one together to go on the local tv show (they had a 16-team tournament this summer to fill time between HS shows). Counting private and charter schools, there are about 40 middle schools/junior highs.

Should just contact them all and see who is interested, or is there an alternate course of action that might work better?

Captain Sinico · Post by **Captain Sinico** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 3:02 pm

Tegan wrote:...I guess it just goes to prove: stereotypes just don't compute!

On behalf of stereotypes everywhere, I demand that you stop... yeah, you see where I'm going.

MaS

wajata · Post by **wajata** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 5:24 pm

Mississippi has nothing....

Tegan · Post by **Tegan** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 7:56 am

ImmaculateDeception wrote:
Tegan wrote:...I guess it just goes to prove: stereotypes just don't compute!
On behalf of stereotypes everywhere, I demand that you stop... yeah, you see where I'm going.

Not to get too off topic, but am I to interpret this to mean that you are pro- stereotype? I was making the point that stereotypes, especially from all of us intellectuals (for example, Ernest Hemmingway referring to Oak Park natives as having narrow minds), is futile, because they are ultimately not true. No matter where people come from, they can overcome anything to acheive anything. Matt Lard attended a Chicago public school, and he has gone from being a well respected player to a well respected coach. David Riley hails from Kentucky. and is among the hardest working, most respected coaches in the nation, and they are hardly abberations.

Perhaps I missed the point of your short posting, and if that is the case, I apologize.

mentalchocolate · Post by **mentalchocolate** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:08 am

some stereotypes are most definitely true....like in Kentucky we don't wear shoes is a perfectly true statement...if any of the rest of you claimed to ever be in Kentucky and saw people in shoes it was a government conspiracy and you were actually somewhere else

Captain Sinico · Post by **Captain Sinico** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 11:06 am

You see, what happened is, you made a stereotype about stereotypes, so I rose-up to defend my friends. It was, you know, a joke. Remember jokes? That stereotypes are, without exception, either false or trivial is so obvious, there's no point in even discussing it.

MaS

PS: I am not from Oak Park! Stop implicitly accusing me of that, immediately.

Tegan · Post by **Tegan** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 11:55 am

ImmaculateDeception wrote:Remember jokes? That stereotypes are, without exception, either false or trivial is so obvious, there's no point in even discussing it.

PS: I am not from Oak Park! Stop implicitly accusing me of that, immediately.

In which case, I publicly and wholeheartedly apologize for:

1. Not seeing the joke

2. Accusing you of being an Oak Parker.

harpersferry · Post by **harpersferry** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 8:46 pm

Rockford and the Northwest Suburbs (read: feeder schools for Auburn and Stevenson) have been quite successful over the years.

Rockford West has won the last two state IESA championships and has only had a team for two years. I wouldn't call that "over the years" just the last two. It has produced some good players, if I do say so myself. I do not think with absolutely no original coaches from the first year or starters on the teams that first won that they will be great this year too. We shall see.

Hopefully these feeder programs will encourage growth at the highschool level. I know that Illinois has been growing like a weed and producing some impressive results already. It remains to be seen how successful these programs can be.

insaneindian · Post by **insaneindian** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 12:28 am

we are hosting (hopefully) two middle school tournaments this year

quiz4life · Post by **quiz4life** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 4:09 am

Does any know where I can get or can see some middle school questions? I would be interested in seeing what is expected from MS kids and if they are more NAQT or NAC style.
Thans,
Michael Harvey
American Community School
Abu Dhabi, UAE

prewitt81 · Post by **prewitt81** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 4:13 pm

http://www.dbtech.net/asca/

Click on the "Questions" link for Alabama style MS questions.

http://www.kaac.com/store/outofstate/index.html

You can purchase KY style Governor's Cup questions here.

insaneindian · Post by **insaneindian** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 4:37 pm

here are some from mr Tressler's (bill's

) site.
http://home.earthlink.net/~charterquiz/Questions.html
we wrote these last year and the tournament was fairly successful.

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