By Rose Laudicina
Staff Writer
Try to answer this question without looking it up on Google or asking Siri on an iPhone.
Maria Francesca wrote The Shadow of Dante. William Michael edited the art journal The Germ. Christina wrote Goblin Market and posed for her brother. Dante Gabriel painted Proserpine. Give the shared surname of these siblings of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
No idea? No problem. There are about 100 students descending on Carrboro this weekend who would love to tell you the answer is Rossetti.
They will be participating in the Carrboro Cup, a quiz bowl tournament hosted by the Carrboro High School Quiz Bowl Team, on Saturday.
Jason Ilieve, founder and president of the Carrboro High team and organizer of the tournament, is excited for the awareness it will raise about quiz bowl.
“Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools hasn’t ever hosted anything like this,†Ilieve said. “Not just quiz bowl, but Model UN too. We haven’t hosted any big academic event here.â€
The Carrboro Cup will bring 25 teams from all over North Carolina and one from Virginia to Carrboro High to compete in two team battles to crown one winner.
“All the people participating are really competitive and we all really like winning – the ultimate prize is really just the sense of accomplishment,†Ilieve said. “But we do have a trophy for the winner.â€
Ilieve compares quiz bowl to Jeopardy – someone reads out a question, each team member (four members per team) has a buzzer and whoever buzzes in first answers. For every correct answer, the team gets a chance to answer three bonus questions for additional points.
Questions cover most academic subjects and occasionally pop culture, which Ilieve says his team doesn’t do as well on.
While many questions are related to information students learn in class, others are more obscure and can be impossible to prepare for.
To study, Ilieve said, “We go on Wikipedia and jump from page to page reading.â€
The 15-member Jaguar team typically goes to five tournaments a year but will not be competing this weekend since it is the hosting team.
The team is in its second year and qualified for nationals last year but was unable to attend because of funding. This year, money raised from the Carrboro Cup through admission fees will help the Jaguars collect the funds necessary for nationals if they qualify.
Ilieve, who is a senior, said he is looking forward to seeing both his team and the Carrboro Cup continue after he graduates.
“Quiz bowl is a place for people who are academically motivated outside the classroom,†Ilieve said, adding that there aren’t many places for those students. “I hope I have established quiz bowl as one of the root societies in Carrboro and that it continues after I leave.â€