MADISON – Students in Scholars Bowl teams from Discovery Middle School fielded difficult questions and tested their knowledge at the East Lawrence Middle School Invitational Tournament in Trinity.

The seventh- and eighth-grade teams from Discovery entered the contest in December. Discovery claimed the runner-up slot for its grade levels. Discovery A Team earned third place.

“Our team went undefeated, outscoring opponents by a four-to-one average through the first six rounds,” science teacher and Scholars Bowl Coach David Sippel said. “Steven Pan also earned the individual third place for average points per round, even though this was his first Scholars Bowl tournament ever.”

Third-place winners were seventh-graders Sophia Johnson, Ben Landingham, Steven Pan and Patrick Bruce and eighth-grader Elizabeth Orton.

“Discovery took five Scholars Bowl teams to East Lawrence. We had a total of 21 sixth-grade students competing,” Sippel said. “We had teams take second, third and fourth places. Mark Allison also took the place spot in individual scores.”

Discovery students in second place were Brolin Cozzolino, Josh Macri, Joeleen Reynolds and Mark Allison. Earning third place were Karsten Wallace, Cole Spanier, Alex Fedoseyev and Owen Bruyns. Students in fourth place were Pranaav Gentela, Aaron Chen, Nathan Chiu and Drake Lara.

Discovery claimed the state championship in 2019.

The teams participate in trivia tournaments with North Alabama school systems. Students compete in class to earn a spot on the competition team. Individual scores, content knowledge, dependability and good sportsmanship determine the members of the A and B teams.

Teams meet daily during class times of 75 minutes for nine weeks. Students who advance to the competition team commit to attend monthly tournaments on Saturdays. A-Team members qualify to stay in Scholars Bowl for an additional nine weeks.

“We make learning fun by competing in academic trivia contests in our region. Our goal is to create teams of scholars that can compete and win at local, regional and ultimately state tournaments,” Sippel said.

Scholars Bowl members are expected to expand their knowledge base in three or more ‘mastery’ areas. Members must broaden their current knowledge, explore their subject of interest and master that knowledge for competition.

For more information, visit dmscholars.weebly.com.