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Middle School Quizbowl

Discussion of quizbowl topics not related to specific tournaments
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dividebyzero
Posts: 359
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:00 am
Location: Near East St. Louis

Middle School Quizbowl

Post by dividebyzero »

Not sure if this has been discussed before, but I was wondering what the current status of middle school quizbowl in Missouri is like. Personally, the only somewhat large, organized tournament I know of is held at Parkway Central Middle School, run by former PCMS gifted teacher Tim Cerruti. Cerruti is the one who originally got almost all of us PCH kids hooked to ac team by way of his annual in-school, all day tournaments (separate) for sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Cerruti writes his own questions (which are actually pretty good) and likes to experiment with things such as lightning and worksheet rounds, all with an intent to help us learn more and get better (which I would say it did). We used to play old school, slapping the tables to buzz in, until he started expanding, eventually getting buzzer sets and starting to hold invitational middle school tournaments (one or two a year at PCMS).

My question is: how are grassroots operations like this (specifically at the middle school level) working in the rest of St. Louis (and Missouri in general)? I don't know how abundantly available questions at the middle school level are (I know you were saying something about starting a company, Charles. If so, you might want to get in contact with Cerruti), but I feel like the general quizbowl program in Missouri stands to benefit a lot from implementing similar programs to Cerruti's. For example, I have serious doubts about the strength of PCH's team if it wasn't for starting in middle school (of maybe forty kids targeted by Cerruti through the gifted program per grade, only a handful really got hooked, came to afterschool practices/games, and continued on in high school). Me, Chris, Liron, Sean, Kevin, Will & Jason (last year's cavalry) all started in middle school, and I feel as if starting these kinds of efforts throughout the state would definitely result in overall better gameplay throughout the state (if not through experience, at least through exposure and public outreach/communication at a younger age to catch more potential star players who may not otherwise become quizbowlers).

Of course, it's entirely possible that such programs are already in place throughout the state, but I've not heard too much about them if they exist.
Input?

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