by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
The competition was described later as “fierce,” but the St. John’s Prep School’s Red Team withstood the pressure and did it again – scoring yet another triumph as champion in the Minnesota Knowledge Bowl meet April 14 at Cragun’s Resort near Brainerd.
The same four team members were also state champs in the 2014 competition.
SJU’s Blue Team placed fourth.
Knowledge Bowl teams won first place at state in 2006, 2008 and 2014.
Both wins were in the Division A classification for smaller schools. The other division, AA, is for larger schools in the state.
Members of the championship Red Team are Marisa Gaetz, Nick Haeg, Sam Rogers, Justin Terhaar and alternate Tina Chen. All are seniors except for Chen, who is a ninth-grader.
The Blue Team members, all juniors, are Amelia Broman, Nathan Broman, Gwyneth John, Ben Lepinski and Max Seymour.
Team coaches are Charles Miller and Jen Daiker, who are both SJP teachers, and Jean Lavigne, a parent.
The SJU Red Team scored 126 points, followed by Glencoe-Silver Lake (118.5 points) and Morris (111.5 points). The SJU Blue Team scored 110 points for its fourth-place finish.
First in Division AA was Academy of Holy Angels, followed by St. Thomas Academy and Chaska.
There are 48 teams that compete in the Minnesota Knowledge Bowl at Cragun’s Resort in April each year. Twenty-four of the teams compete in Division A, 24 in Division AA. All of the teams had previously won in sub-region and regional competitions. Nearly 900 students in grades 7-12, in teams of four, compete in the state’s 290 school districts throughout the year in various regions.
Wide-ranging knowledge is essential to Knowledge Bowl success because the questions are chosen from virtually every field of human pursuits, including national and world affairs, art and music, biology, economics and law, English, geography, government, health and psychology, literature, math, Minnesota history, American history, world history, earth science and more.
At the state competition, tension and intense concentration are part of the contest as teams complete a written round of 60 multiple-choice questions and five oral rounds of 45 questions.
Members of the St. John’s Prep Knowledge Bowl Team Red, the state champions for the second time, are (front row, left to right) teacher and coach Jen Daiker, seniors Marisa Gaetz, Nick Haeg, Sam Rogers and ninth-grader and alternate Tina Chen. Members of the fourth-place team, Team Blue, (back row) are juniors Justin Tehaar, Ben Lepinski, Nathan Broman, Gwyneth John, Amelia Broman, Max Seymour and teacher-coach Charles Miller. SJU teams won the state Knowledge Bowl three times previously – in 2006, 2008 and 2014.
