Teammate Appreciation Thread

Elaborate on the merits of specific tournaments or have general theoretical discussion here.
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meebles127
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Teammate Appreciation Thread

Post by meebles127 »

I think this is a good idea.

I don't play but David Bass has been a wonderful friend this year as well as Mark Bailey, Alana Dickey, and Charlotte Goeb.

Itamar is also an exceedingly fun quizbowl road trip friend and I always appreciate his guidance.

I'll probably write more later.
Em Gunter
Club President, University of Virginia
Tournament Director, 2023 Chicago Open
Assistant Tournament Director, 2022 and 2023 ACF Nationals

Author of: My Guide to High School Outreach and So You Want to Buy a Buzzer System

"That's got to be one of the most useful skills anyone has ever gotten from quizbowl." -John Lawrence
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Krik? Krik?! KRIIIIK!!!
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Re: Teammate Appreciation Thread

Post by Krik? Krik?! KRIIIIK!!! »

Thanks for starting the thread, Em. I'd like to thank the various teams I've been a part of this year - from the MRNA, NASAT, and Regionals teams for pushing me creatively as an editor and making me a better writer from when I began. I'd also like to thank the ACF board and the Nationals writing team for their kindness and dedication to quiz bowl. You all are amazing, genuine, and the main reason I keep contributing to quiz bowl as much as I do. I'd also like to thank all the staffers, writers, editors, tournament directors, club leadership holders, misconduct representatives, and all logistics staff for their endless work to make our Saturday competitions happen.

I wanted to specifically thank some friends who I think deserve a lot more recognition for their work. The first person on my mind is Theresa Nyowheoma. As ACF's site coordinator, Theresa was the crux of ACF's events from Fall to Regionals and she performed this role flawlessly. I firmly believe that ACF's record-setting turnout at Fall, Winter, and Nationals this year is in part because of her monumental work coordinating with tournament directors behind the scenes. She is diligent, incredibly talented, always eager to help, and a fantastic friend. Its been a pleasure to work with you.

I always wanted to thank my friend Eric Yin. I remember reading CALISTO this year and thinking "Huh, I'm not a science player, but this is the most engaging content I've ever read." Every time I looked at the writer tag, Eric's name was there. And best yet - he's a high quantity writer across NAQT and multiple housewrite sets. But that's not all. Eric has a great commitment to making quiz bowl a better place and to making high quality questions more accessible to hundreds of teams. He's a fantastic logistics wizard and I greatly appreciate his advice and company.

As much as I hate to give my biggest hater credit, I believe Mia McGill is one of the most important people progressing our community today. From being a tireless advocate for misconduct awareness by serving as a representative at numerous tournaments, to immediately strengthening the Minnesota quiz bowl community despite being new to the area, she is always someone who can make you laugh but also make sure the right thing is being done on time. In particularl, I believe Mia's work in expanding quiz bowl through social media is crucial to reaching new audiences and making the community more accessible to new players. Thanks bestie.

Nationals made me really think about the people who got me to Minnesota. I think of the endless work of MOQBA in making Missouri one of the most active quiz bowl states for high schoolers in the country. Introducing hundreds of schools in the state to high quality quiz bowl alone would earn the leadership of Jeffrey Hill some sort of lifetime achievement award, but he's also responsible for the very foundations of hsquizbowl.com and quizbowlpackets.com - the core of any sort of records keeping and packet storage in the community. But wait, there's more! HillSheets - designed by Jeffrey and his brother Kyle - powered ACF Nationals and dozens of other tournaments this year without a hitch. Two incredible members of the community.

I wouldn't have written half as much if I didn't have people take a chance on me when I first began. I think of David Dennis and Jacob O'Rourke who let me on my first set, WHAQ III. I think of Chandler West, who take my dogwater questions from that set and gave me the advice I'd use to get better - I've worked with Chandler on multiple sets now, and its always a great pleasure to banter VFA with them. I think of JinAh Kim and Jordan Brownstein for encouraging me to apply for Fall, and for Rahul Keyal for taking me on as a first time editor. I think of William Golden for taking me onto Winter and helping me complete the set during a tough time in my life, and for Nick Jensen for singlehandedly changing how I approach so many different subjects and think of writing itself. I think of the MRNA and ARCADIIA teams for being fantastic friends and always people who can get a good laugh out of me everyday.

There's dozens of people I've left out here, but the point I want to make is this: my old coach used to always tell me before tournaments to "Make some memories." And how I think quiz bowl should be approached: nobody is going to remember who scored in what place, or what their PPB was - we're going to remember the great connections and friends that are made through the community. Thank you to everyone who makes this community a better place.
Ganon Evans
Misconduct Representative
ACF President, PACE VP of Editing, MOQBA
Francis Howell High School 2018, University of Iowa 2021
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Ehtna
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Re: Teammate Appreciation Thread

Post by Ehtna »

Shoutouts to everybody in the UMN quizbowl club for being awesome people and great friends. I'd almost certainly forget somebody if I tried naming names so this is for everyone. Your willingness and enthusiasm to drive 8+ hours to play quizbowl tournaments is extremely admirable, a little alarming, but overall amazing. For the sane people in the club who aren't like that, your presence at practices and online makes me incredibly glad that I came to this school and happy that I've gotten to play, staff, and hang out in non-qb spaces with y'all. You're the best Celeste-gaming addiction enablers I could ask for.

And shoutouts to Mia too for taking me fit shopping.
Ethan Ashbrook [he/him]
Uni Lab 2020
Minnesota 2024
kammajos000
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Re: Teammate Appreciation Thread

Post by kammajos000 »

Some of the best times I've had during my 4 years at the University of Minnesota have come from playing quiz bowl. I've learned a bit, negged a bit, and experienced much more virtual quiz bowl than any sane person could ever want. I've also gotten to know a lot of people from the UMN club, so I wanted to mention all of the great teammates I've had throughout the years:

I want to thank Tora Husar for being a great teammate.

Well, that about wraps it up. I don't think I've forgotten anyone.
Joe Kammann
Wayzata '18
Minnesota '22
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RhymesWithBee
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Re: Teammate Appreciation Thread

Post by RhymesWithBee »

While I don't play with them anymore (and i doubt they will see this) I want to thank someone who has spent way too much money on Riot Games, a certain mike and ike's enjoyer, and Big Hat Logan (you know who you are). You three convinced me to play quiz bowl, taught me how to study (it apparently requires carding and ordering mcdonalds at 12:45am the day before a tournament), and showed me how to convert science tossups (this one is a trade secret I cannot reveal). The drive on the way back from ACRONYM 2020 is one of my favorite memories, and the main theme from Undertale always makes me nostalgic for that day, even if you ALL fell asleep in my car. I hope someday you all come back for an ACRONYM in the future, and we can resurrect B!ATE one final time.
-Lea (she/they)
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Re: Teammate Appreciation Thread

Post by PunaEkka64 »

Joe
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Fado Alexandrino
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Re: Teammate Appreciation Thread

Post by Fado Alexandrino »

I would like to thank my writing teammates this season, I won't name all names, you are all wonderful and great, but I would like to personally thank Paul Kasinski for changing all my What's to Which's and vice versa and adding question marks at the end of all my questions.

I would also like to thank the Western Canadian players who Eastern Canadian players probably would never have met if it weren't for the pandemic bringing us all online. Lia Rathburn, Max Max Gedajlovic, and Isaac Renert have all volunteered their precious time throughout the season to read countless number of packets to everyone in the greater Canadian circuit, whether it's ACF Nationals with skuffed scoring rules or the 1997 Paul Bunyan All-Onion. One silver lining of the pandemic is the increased online connectivity of the Canadian circuit, and I hope this can continue even as things get back to normal. Once tournaments go back in person, the Western Canadian presence will sorely be missed.
Joe Su, OCT
Lisgar 2012, McGill 2015, McGill 2019, Queen's 2020
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