Ronan sweeps middle school Academic Bowl

RONAN — The annual Mission Valley Academic Bowl, a unique homegrown tradition, held its final meet at Ronan Middle School on Feb. 24. A fast-paced final round between Charlo and Ronan, with questions about everything from middle east troop withdrawals to Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, ended in a tie. But that round was not enough to stop this year’s academic powerhouse.

After at least a decade-long dry spell, Ronan Middle School’s Academic Bowl team swept all four meets this school year.

Ronan coach,eighth-grade math teacher Bill Becker, said his team’s experience was a big factor this year. While most schools had a lot of newly recruited members, eight out of Ronan’s 10-person team had competed in previous Academic Bowls. Each team includes 10 or more students from sixth, seventh and eighth grades, with a maximum of five from each grade.

Two eighth-graders, Alorah Barker and Aaliyah Stewart, spent every lunch period for a year and a half practicing in Mr. Becker’s room.

“They would set up buzzers and go one-on-one,” he said.

This was the second year for both of them in the competition.

“A lot of these kids are athletes, but a lot of them are not,” Becker said. “This is a way for them to show off talents that they usually don’t get to.”

Many of them also compete in regional contests such as “Math Counts” and MCTM Math Contest, and several go on to participate in high school speech and debate and other academic endeavors.

Academic Bowls consist of a written test in the morning and a live contest in the afternoon.

In the morning, each team has an hour and half to work together on five tests, each with 30-90 questions. They are allowed to keep and work on the logic test for the entire time, but can only have the other four — math, science, social studies, and English — one at a time. Students can study tests from their previous rounds to improve their understanding of parts they were weak on, Becker said.

Questions for the live rounds are taken from a pool of approximately 10,000 that have been developed over the decades since the contest began in 1978. For some, the answer changes over time, i.e. “Who is the Commander in Chief?” was first asked when Bill Clinton was president. Outdated questions are replaced to include recent developments. They may get a question they have had before, Becker said, but they have to pay attention as it could be asked differently.

Then there are the “high money questions,” which all of the students definitely know. Becker demonstrated by calling out, “What are the two families in Romeo and Juliet?” Instantly, “Montagues and Capulets” rang out.

The Academic Bowl was started by coach Les Rice and science teacher Verlin Mintz, both of St. Ignatius. Rice’s daughter, Stacey Doll, teaches English and coaches the Mission Academic Bowl team. Doll competed all three years of middle school, and her own children have also participated. Several other current coaches are Academic Bowl alumni as well.

The Ronan meet was capped with a friendly coaches round, where students asked the questions. Though they excelled at answering questions such as “How many seconds are there in a year?,” the coaches were stumped by “Who has the most TikTok followers?” and “What is currently a popular room decoration among teens?,” which all the students knew to be “LED lights.”