Syracuse University

This forum is for anyone seeking advice on starting a collegiate team, branching out into new types of tournaments, or other "how-to" aspects of collegiate quizbowl.
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Krazy
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Syracuse University

Post by Krazy »

Hello to all of you in the quizbowl community. I participated in quiz bowl in middle and high school. When I got to UAlbany, the program had just disbanded and since I transferred after one semester I could not make much of a dent there. When I got to Binghamton, I wanted to start a program there because it is truly a sleeping giant with how many high school quizbowlers go there but COVID happened so it never got off the ground. Now I am at my third school and had somewhat given up on participating in collegiate quizbowl but a conversation with one of my high school teammates got my interest reinvigorated. I was pleased to learn that Syracuse already had a program, so I contacted them to learn that both all the current members will be leaving the program next year and that they are not a Registered Student Organization. I finally just said you know what, I know the universe does not what me to do collegiate quizbowl but bleep the universe I am going to do collegiate quizbowl. So I have some questions, to become a Registered Student Organization we need to find eight people including myself who are willing to sign on as members, how can I go about recruiting those people? I have contacted four other people who did quizbowl in high school, including one person who expressed they wanted to start a quizbowl team at Syracuse in 2019 on these forums who's signature says they will not graduate until 2023, because we need three other Executive Board members when we go to register our student organization. None of these four people have responded, how do I go about recruiting E-Board members? With us technically not being a new team we are not eligible for new team discounts, should I try explaining our situation and try to get them or not? We are not eligible to apply for funding until the next spring semester, how could we go about raising some funds to recruit, go to tournaments and maybe acquire a buzzer system before then? Thank You in advance for your assistance, I know that this is probably not the intended purpose for this section but I could not find a better one to post these questions in.
Daniel Kolodny
Brighton (Rochester, NY) 2019-Captain 2016-2019
UAlbany->Binghamton->Syracuse 2023, 2026L-Brought the program on campus in 2022-23
Cosmas's Tabernacular Earth
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Re: Syracuse University

Post by Cosmas's Tabernacular Earth »

Always nice to see a new team trying to pop up here in Upstate NY. For your recruiting questions, I would say your best bet is to prioritize becoming a Registered Student Organization ASAP in order to get access to recruiting events for incoming freshmen in the fall. If you need to have some friends be warm bodies on the Eboard in order to make that happen, you can probably get away with that for a term or so while you work toward getting more serious recruits. If you're pushing for recognition this spring, you might be able to get the current members counted toward that too, idk what Syracuse's specific policies are with regards to that. One place to find current students who may be interested in quizbowl is NAQT's incoming freshmen lists, which will get you the names of most students who went through Masterminds and some students who were in out of state high school quizbowl programs. From there, you could look up these people in your school's directory and email them seeing about interest in joining a quizbowl club. If you're interested, I could also reach out to the president of Hobart & William Smith's quizbowl club to see if she has any advice for you; she has recently gone through the process of starting up a team and is likely more familiar with what works and doesn't work than I am.

As for your question about new team discounts, I would likely approve your request for a new team discount on the basis of your club not being a continuation of the previous program. It would definitely be worth a shot asking anyone else who directs a tournament in the region about it as well (hopefully we see some non-RIT hosts next season). You would have to go through separate approval processes for any ACF tournaments with ACF, and you may have to for NAQT SCT as well, since I'm not sure how much leeway they allow hosts in determining who qualifies for a new team discount for that tournament. Initial fundraising would likely have to come from members participating in those tournaments (which would come out around $30 per player per tournament if you're paying the standard base fee of $120, less if you get discounts and/or are playing a novice event). I know some schools have done trivia night fundraisers as another way to bring in some money. Once you get a team established, you can start hosting tournaments as another way to fundraise. I know Scott from Masterminds has loaned buzzers to new programs in the past, you may want to contact him about loaning Syracuse a buzzer set in the fall.

I'd be happy to add you to my email list for planning next season, you can just DM me your contact info or send me an email at [email protected]. We'll be looking into some casual events such as open practices in the Rochester area over the summer, so it's possible that you can connect with people there (if they happen). I'd also be happy to answer any questions you might have about college quizbowl in Upstate NY. Hope to see Syracuse at some tournaments next season!
Adam Swift
RIT, 2015
Krazy
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Re: Syracuse University

Post by Krazy »

Sadly Syracuse University only considers Registered Student Organization applications received before the third Friday of the semester each semester, which means that we cannot become one until next fall. I have already been informed that we cannot be part of the activities fair, orientation, apply for funding, or even apply to hold an event until we complete both the application and registration processes which in the fall usually will last into October and could even bleed into November. The E-Board and other members must sign on prior to any advertising for the club being allowed on campus or official platforms. I looked at both the Masterminds and NAQT incoming freshman lists and found them to be very sparse for the last two years and many of the people who were on the lists played sparingly in high school which puts me in a difficult position. The four people I did reach out to were the only people with sizable high school careers I could find here at Syracuse. It would be nice to get advice from the Hobart & William Smith President. Scott was actually the first person I reached out to when I started this challenge, relying on the relationship I had with him from ACB and Masterminds, he gave me some advice but almost everything he told me relies on us having a successful application and registration process next semester. Lastly to comment on your warm bodies and friends idea, it is not really possible since all of us will have to get through our personal interviews as well as our group interview and attend our office bootcamp and new organization bootcamp. So if someone is willing to commit a sizable amount of time to this organization and then just be a warm body that is fine but I have a feeling that that is not the case. Thank You for such a detailed response and I did dm you an email.
Last edited by Krazy on Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Daniel Kolodny
Brighton (Rochester, NY) 2019-Captain 2016-2019
UAlbany->Binghamton->Syracuse 2023, 2026L-Brought the program on campus in 2022-23
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Habitat_Against_Humanity
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Re: Syracuse University

Post by Habitat_Against_Humanity »

Hello,

It's awesome to read this post. I've been living in Syracuse since 2017 and while I'm not that active with playing the game any more, I'd love any chance to help out where I can. I'm a former quizbowler from UChicago with a fair amount of experience in the non-Syracuse University-specific aspects of quizbowl. My spouse is a professor at SU, so I have something of a connection to the university. I don't know if a faculty sponsor is something you'd need, but I might be able to gently cajole her into it. If there's anything at all I can do to help, please let me know and I'll assist where possible. Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or anything. Best of luck!
Rachel
UChicago 09
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Re: Syracuse University

Post by GallatinGOAT2020 »

Hey Daniel,

I have one member of my team that will be pursuing grad school at Syracuse next year. Do you have an email address or such I can give her so she will be able to reach out if she decides she wants to continue playing?
William Barnes

Gallatin (TN) '20
President of UT-Knoxville Quizbowl ('24)
Krazy
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Re: Syracuse University

Post by Krazy »

I just wanted to provide an update to the community on where we are at in our plans to secure the future of Quiz Bowl at Syracuse University. It seems we have found a core group to do most of our playing and to lead the club for next year. I just have a few questions as we approach both our paper work and our first season together next year. How often do teams usually play? What do players who are not eligible for the more novice tournaments do in September and October as it seems there are not many tournaments for non-novices during that period? In curling we have head to heads where we will play another local team sometimes home and home on weekends were we don't play in a bonspiel does something like that exist in quiz bowl? We need a faculty member to be a part of our application, how do teams, that are required to have a faculty member involved, usually find their faculty member to be part of their organization?
Last edited by Krazy on Tue May 10, 2022 4:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Daniel Kolodny
Brighton (Rochester, NY) 2019-Captain 2016-2019
UAlbany->Binghamton->Syracuse 2023, 2026L-Brought the program on campus in 2022-23
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Habitat_Against_Humanity
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Re: Syracuse University

Post by Habitat_Against_Humanity »

I'll PM you my spouse's contact info. She says she's willing to sponsor if it doesn't require too much work on her part
Rachel
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zbennyy
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Re: Syracuse University

Post by zbennyy »

Krazy wrote: Mon May 09, 2022 9:53 pm How often do teams usually play? What do players who are not eligible for the more novice tournaments do in September and October as it seems there are not many tournaments for non-novices during that period? In curling we have head to heads where we will play another local team sometimes home and home on weekends were we don't play in a bonspiel does something like that exist in quiz bowl?
There are usually five-ish tournaments total each semester, with a mixture of them being novice events, regular-difficulty tournaments, and opens. Some of that has changed in the past couple of years as COVID meant that a number of sets were postponed, but things at least seem to be returning back to their "normal" states.

As for what non-novices should do during the part of the season dominated by novice tournaments, my best advice would be to have more experienced players help staff these events. Hosts almost always offer a discount on registration costs for each staffer you supply, and in my experience, they will definitely need and appreciate the help. I'll also add that I think it's likely there are some non-novice events that come up in this time period that just haven't been announced yet (Penn Bowl, for instance, is already slated to run in "late October").

Lastly, while formal head-to-head meets don't really exist in collegiate quizbowl, teams can organize informal scrimmages against one another; this was actually my first college quizbowl experience, playing a scrimmage on old ACF Fall packets from the archive. It can be tricky finding a set that no one playing the event has read or heard before, and to find people willing to read and scorekeep rather than play, but it can be a fun experience, especially for people and teams that are new to college quizbowl.

Best of luck to you all!
Zac Bennett
Norman North HS (2016-2020)
Ohio State (2020-2022)
Oklahoma (2022-)
ACF, PACE
nyzhang
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Re: Syracuse University

Post by nyzhang »

Hi Daniel, from myself and the members of Cornell's quizbowl club, welcome! It's great to see more teams popping up in Upstate New York. Zac pretty much said everything I would've said, so I'll keep this short, but if you guys would be interested in scrimmaging some of our players in the future/would like any advice or information on the circuit or quizbowl in general, feel free to contact me at [email protected]. Best of luck and hope to see you all at a tournament next semester!
Nathan Zhang
NCSSM '2021 Cornell '2025
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Re: Syracuse University

Post by $5 Bits of Broken Chair Trophy »

I'm glad to hear that you managed to get a team going, I live in Albany and would be happy to give advice and/or help out with tournament planning or staffing, feel free to message me here or email me at [email protected].
Sam Rombro
Arizona '20
Maryland '18
Writer, NAQT (inactive)
Krazy
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Re: Syracuse University

Post by Krazy »

This will probably be one of my final updates but today we completed RSO registration and are now waiting approval before we can start the RSO orientation process. The goal remains to be fully recognized by the start of spring semester. Now that goal almost drifted away today as we came within one hour of missing today's deadline but we made it and hope to get the organization across the finish line this semester. Though I remain sad that we could not make RIT tomorrow, the move up a week really cost us we remain committed to ACF Fall at Cornell in two months. See all of you then when we are hopefully in the middle of RSO orientation.
Daniel Kolodny
Brighton (Rochester, NY) 2019-Captain 2016-2019
UAlbany->Binghamton->Syracuse 2023, 2026L-Brought the program on campus in 2022-23
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