La Conner academic team has answers for everything

Knowledge is power.

For proof, one need look no farther than a La Conner High student group for which no academic test is too heavy a burden.

Spencer Tripp, MacQuaid Hiller, Max Drews, Charlie Cram, Jack Tronsdal, Domenic Wilbur and Noah Lee – among the school’s brightest lights – comprise La Conner’s Knowledge Bowl team, carrying forth a campus tradition that has generated great success over the years.

The La Conner High Knowledge Bowl team won a state championship in 2016, and the current La Conner team is already plugged into the state mix, having earned a berth to regional trials next month.

Team members devote their lunch period twice each week to practice with head coach Beth Clothier and assistant Christi Malcomson.

Neither the students nor their coaches mind giving up what would otherwise be a leisurely lunch, choosing instead to pore through a steady diet of challenging practice questions covering social studies, math, science, literary arts and current events and issues.

“It’s invigorating to be around these great brains,” says Clothier, the La Conner school district librarian. “They have a great sense of humor and a nice camaraderie.”

Even though Knowledge Bowl season didn’t begin until November, this year’s team asked to start practicing in September, shortly after school started.

All prep was on their own time as well.

Wilbur, an avid reader, regularly peruses a variety of media outlets.

“I read a lot of political news,” he says.

Wilbur, Lee and Hiller tend to cover social studies and current events. Tripp and Cram gravitate to math and science. Tronsdal and Drews mostly handle questions related to literature and rhetoric.

But each is able to answer questions across subject areas.

“You have to have a diverse team to compete in Knowledge Bowl,” says Wilbur.

Students truly must be quick wits because the first team to trigger an electric buzzer in response to a question gets the initial crack at answering.

“There are strategies involved with the speed element,” Clothier says. “You have to be able to anticipate what the questions will be.”

Knowledge Bowl rounds consist of 50 questions. Questions like: What can be determined about a cone by multiplying pi times the radius times the slant height? Or: In 1906, what young foreign-born lawyer in South Africa organized his first campaign of ‘satyagraha’, or mass civil disobedience?

More times than not, the La Conner team can provide correct responses.

“The students,” Clothier says, “know a lot of this. It’s pretty amazing.”

Equally impressive is that the La Conner Knowledge Bowlers have placed first or second in all their meets this year despite competing opposite higher enrollment schools.

“We have to play up,” Clothier explains. “Since there are no other 2Bs (in Knowledge Bowl) in the area, we have to compete in 1A, against bigger schools.”

At regionals, La Conner will be one of six teams vying for a lone spot at state.

Like the students, Clothier and Malcomson are amped up about the team’s prospects.

“I really love this,” says Clothier. “It’s about academics and these students’ intellectual pursuits.”

Pretty powerful stuff, indeed.