After well over a decade without competing, the Scholars’ Bowl team returned to Tennessee High. The club, founded by senior Luke Sah with the help of librarian Shannon Silvers, traveled to the East Tennessee PBS offices and studio in Knoxville, Tennessee, to compete against Corbin High School from Corbin, Kentucky, on October 29.
Sah had previously been interested in joining a Scholars’ Bowl team, and it was the help of Silvers that ultimately created the club, with practices beginning last spring.
“My older siblings went to John S. Battle High School, where they have Scholastic Bowl. When I got here, I inquired if there was some such activity and was told no,” Sah said. “So, I went to Ms. Silvers my junior year and asked her if she would be interested in being sponsor. And she said that she’s actually been looking into starting this for a few years already and was more than happy to.”
The team’s second coach, biology teacher Julie Bittinger, who has co-sponsored Science Bowl with chemistry teacher Richard Reece for over a decade, saw clear parallels between the two academic competition clubs.
“They’re very closely related, actually. The scoring was a different format, but as far as the setup of the competition and the captain having to answer bonus questions and having to buzz in for time and be recognized,” Bittinger said. “I think the overall format was very similar.”
As the team commenced practice, a variety of strategies and techniques were employed to help familiarize players with the question topics and format.
“We originally started by having each person write some questions on a topic that they were good at and bring them in for the rest of the group, but we realized that that wasn’t really helping people improve on their own subjects,” Sah said. “We decided the best way to practice would be to review old games of Scholars’ Bowl to get used to the format.”
When the players embarked on their journey to Knoxville, nerves and stage fright began to kick in, especially for the starters: Seniors Madison Davis, Luke Sah, and Chloe Whitt, and sophomore Aiden Smith. Alternates were plagued by this too, however, as they had the opportunity to be entered into the game at halftime.
“I was really nervous; I just had general nervousness, and I can’t imagine actually being one of the people up there,” said junior Branch Sword. “I tried to focus on the test in front of me and not think of the things that could go wrong and just try to do my best.”
After being introduced to the host, Frank Murphy, and seated in their positions, the starters began buzzing in on the opening questions. For some, it was at this point that the nerves ceased and the focused intensity of the match took center stage.
“As soon as the questions started, the nerves disappeared entirely,” said Whitt. “I just felt confident.”
Left to right: Senior Madison Davis, Senior Kayden Adams, Senior Chloe Whitt, Sophomore Aiden Smith, Senior Dominic Shipley, Sophomore Lily Sah, Junior Branch Sword, Sophomore Hank Scanlan, Senior Luke Sah. (Shannon Silvers)
Sah, however, placed an additional emphasis on the haste of clicking the buzzer and the strategy of the roster construction.
“Everyone on Scholars’ Bowl is smart, but some of these questions are very specialized, and only certain people are going to know them,” Sah said. “But for quite a few of them, most of the players knew, so the biggest thing was just to be first on the buzzer.”
As the team held a lead at halftime, coach Silvers declined to sub in any alternates and left all four alternates in. However, the team fell behind in the second half, and despite a late push, Corbin prevailed. As it was a single elimination tournament, that marked the end of the season.
“Sitting backstage and watching us lose, it was pretty heartbreaking. In the first half we were exhilarated back there: we were hyped, we were ready, having a good old time, laughing, and all excited,” said Senior Dominic Shipley. “But everything fell apart when we got into that second half, man. It’s like the plane just lost all power.”
As the team departed the studio, Silvers was not shocked by the loss, as she understood from her own Scholars’ Bowl career that inexperience can be fatally detrimental to new teams.
“I knew I had a bunch of smart kids, but I also knew how hard it can be when you’ve never done it before,” Silvers said. “I was disappointed because we were ahead so much at halftime, but I was more worried about the players feeling bad because I know I used to take it really personally. It was like I knew this answer, I knew that answer, and I couldn’t buzz in fast enough.”
For Sah, he was disappointed that the team he helped found had their season end so early, but he cherished the opportunity to compete and travel to Knoxville.
“It was pretty disappointing; I spent about two years setting this up,” Sah said. “Single elimination is a little disappointing, but I think we had fun on the drive and the practices and it was free.”
Similarly, senior Madison Davis also relished in the experience of traveling to Knoxville, as she, along with the rest of the team, visited stores that do not exist in Bristol.
“I got to go to West Town Mall and I got multiple free books out of it,” Davis said. “It was a great use of my time. It was amazing, I love that I did it.”
With the early loss, the Class of 2026, which dominated this year’s team, will depart before next season. There will be a large amount of turnover next year, so current members encourage interested and knowledgeable underclassmen to join.
“I felt a little disappointed in myself, but I also knew that I answered a lot of questions and that at the end of the day, I would be proud of myself for what I did now,” Whitt said. “I can’t wait to see how the future underclassmen bring it forward.”
