The Paw Print

By Mia Mathew, Staff Writer

Payton’s Scholastic Bowl has had a successful year so far. Scholastic Bowl is an academic competition where students strive to answer questions on a diverse range of subjects, including pop culture, history, literature and more. According to team member Connolly Nugent, the hard work has paid off. She is “so proud of how far the team has come this year. Everyone has put in an insane amount of work and our success has reflected that. Every member of our varsity team graduated [last year], and reshaping the team to better fit our strengths this year has been really difficult but rewarding.” 

Kieran Blake, another member, stated that “Overall, the members of the team have stepped up their game this year. We [feel that we] have a responsibility to kind of carry on the legacy.” 

Scholastic Bowl has raked in the achievements, one of them being the NAQT (National Academic Quiz Tournaments) State Competition where one team placed sixth, receiving a plaque, a junior was the 15th highest scorer and two freshmen received rising star awards. 

Furthermore, the Masonic State/Sectionals was “incredible” and the team was able to qualify for state after being undefeated. They ended the day placing third place, which is the highest Payton has ever placed in a state level competition. Blake noted that the team “did not qualify for Masonic state last year” but showed major improvement this time around, “carrying…success even further.” 

Continuing tradition, the IHSA (Illinois High School Association) Regionals and Sectionals, which Payton has hosted and won three years in a row, was described as an experience “where we fought hard and ended up second to one of the best teams in IHSA” by Nugent. 

The Scholastic Bowl team is currently taking a quick break in anticipation for the national level competition in June, but they are sure to “work hard over the next [few months] so we are at our strongest this June.” Blake summed up this year’s efforts, saying “it’s really a testament to this team and all of the effort that has been put in by the members of the team.” 

Simra Kuchay, a newly joined freshman member, has also confirmed her appreciation for the team by saying that it is “one of the only extracurriculars I enjoy.”