The juniors took first place in the single day two event of Spirit Week: Quiz Bowl. This lead added 100 more points to their edge, putting them further into the lead. In this jeopardy-style competition, the juniors ended with 1900 points, closely followed by the seniors with 1799 points. The sophomores trailed with 400 points, while the ninth graders ended in the negatives with -2600 points.
The final Quiz Bowl scoreboard. Photo by Maya DeAndrea ’25.
But, this win for the juniors was fraught in controversy: two broken buzzers and a mis-remembered song title.
This year’s Quiz Bowl categories were as follows: Quakerism, Pop Culture, U.S. Capitals, Music and Dance, and Philly Sports.
There were setbacks early on in the competition as the ninth graders and juniors experienced broken buzzers. The event momentarily switched to raising hands instead of using the buzzers. Sophia Lalani ’25, member of the junior team, thought that “[raising hands] wasn’t the most fair way to go about it.” Director of Technology Steve Kolaris and Upper School Director Noah Rachlin worked to repair the buzzers while the competition continued.
Under the “Music and Dance” category, one question asked for the title of the song used in the ultra-famous “Dirty Dancing” scene with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, to which the juniors responded “Time of Our Lives.” Upper School Dean of Students and Quiz Bowl Moderator Will Miller took this answer as correct, continuing the competition. But, members of the senior class began to point out that the song is entitled “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” not “The Time of Our Lives,” a song by the modern pop singer Pitbull. At the time of this reporting, Miller has not re-evaluated the results, even though there are calls to rescind the scores of the event.
The seniors, who were returning champs, had an underwhelming start, but started to pick it up towards the end. However, it was not enough to give them the win. Returning team member Himanshu Sahore ’24 stated, “I think we were beat to the buzzer plenty of times. We had some mistakes and missed opportunities.”
The winning Quiz Bowl team (L-R) Anna Thomson, Sophia Lalani, Maya DeAndrea, Luke Iacono. Photo by Dinah Megibow-Taylor ’24.
The juniors, on the other hand, found their rhythm early, and held the lead steadily. Students Maya DeAndrea ’25, Luke Iacono ’25, Sophia Lalani ’25, and Anna Thomson ’25 formed the team, and for Iacono, a returning Quiz Bowl participant, the team’s dynamic contributed to their success. “I thought it went as well as it possibly could. Once we got our momentum going with those several questions answered in a row, there was no stopping us.”
The junior team put a lot of time and effort in preparing for this event: “The period before the event, I was going over quiz questions with one of my teammates,” said Lalani. The team initially wagered 1,000 points on the final question which would have ultimately lost them the event, but at the last moment, they decided to wager 800.The final question, which was, This American naturalist and author explored his experiences living in a small cabin in the woods near Walden Pond. Who is he?, stumped everyone — no class correctly answered with Henry David Thoreau.
Spirit Week will continue with the fan-favorite Tug on Wednesday, October 18.
