This history-making club gives Boise students ‘a place to call their own’
BOISE – Last year, North Junior High’s Quiz Bowl Club made history.
This year, history repeated itself.
The North Junior High team, which earned the state of Idaho its first national Quiz Bowl title in 2024, made it back-to-back titles by winning again on June 7 at what’s officially the National Academic Championship.
The team became the third school in the competition’s history to repeat as champions, according to Charles Beall, the CEO of Questions Unlimited, the entity that has spearheaded the NAC since 1983.
“We’ve done 43 seasons now, and North is the only Idaho team ever to win a championship at any of our four levels,” Beall said.
The team was made up of North Junior High students Ike Snyder, One Park, Kellen McClaskey, Jackson Ferguson, Christopher Irwin and Maria Ma. It is coached by Todd Noble and Beth Vawter, with Emma Shannon as a teacher adviser.
Practice takes place twice a week, once during the lunch period on Wednesdays in Shannon’s classroom at North and once after school for two hours at a team member’s house. The coaches said in an interview that the team also prepped on its own, outside of the official practices.
Quiz Bowl ‘provides an avenue’
The club itself had at least 20 members, according to Vawter; however, only six could go to the National Academic Championship. The championship squad wasn’t finalized until about two weeks before the competition, said Snyder, the 15-year-old team captain, in an interview with the Idaho Statesman.
Both coaches and the adviser called the students extremely “self-motivated” and “passionate” about Quiz Bowl Club.
“They’re each there for their own reasons. Some are there to get that title, some are there for that connectivity,” Shannon said.
Noble said the club has become a welcoming space for the students.
“Junior high years are so tough, so (Quiz Bowl helps) provide an avenue for some kids that might be struggling to come in and have a place where they feel comfortable,” Noble said.
“I think we’re succeeding in giving kids a place to call their own,” Shannon added.
The coaches and Snyder said the club has taught members important lessons about leadership, confidence and growing up.
“Being on a team is just an important part of life, developing socially, and I think having that with Quiz Bowl is pretty cool,” Snyder said.
Shannon said they’ve watched “a lot of quiet people find their voice through a buzzer, or through that confidence of getting a question right.”
‘A lot of laughing’ leads to another Quiz Bowl title
The back-to-back wins at the national level surprised the club members, according to Snyder. After their title last year, the team didn’t do many external competitions. Despite this apparent disadvantage, the club members were still asking Shannon and Vawter to try to make the nationals again, Noble said.
“We were kind of joking about a week before the national tournament. We were like, ‘If we win this thing, that’s going to be the most surprising thing ever.’ Because our practices were basically a lot of laughing and a lot of jokes being made,” Snyder said.
The coaches said they always noticed how good the team was at “bouncing back” after a question was missed.
“No one ever picks on anyone for getting a question wrong. … Everyone’s really good about making mistakes and being OK with it,” Shannon said.
Snyder said each team member has a specialty when it comes to categories, his being geography.
“Anyone can be good at Quiz Bowl,” he said, adding that it was “really cool and really powerful” to represent not just his junior high, but also the state of Idaho at the national level.
“No matter where you think you stand in the academic level, no matter if you have A’s or B’s or C’s or D’s, I think it’s important for kids to understand that they can join Quiz Bowl,” Snyder said.