Glasgow, KY – The Glasgow High School Academic team is more than a group of intelligent students with a winning tradition. Coach Todd Garrison has built a program that attracts top-level students and performs on a national level every single year. It’s that level of continued success that brings pride within the halls of Glasgow High School. Garrison’s squad is preparing for one of their most important events of the season; the National Academic Quiz Tournaments’ Small School National Championship Tournament.
As a 4-time winner of the small school nationals, the Scottie Quiz Bowl team is amongst 143 other teams from public schools of equal size.
The competition is this Friday in Chicago at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare. Quiz bowl teams use buzzers to answer questions about science, math, history, literature, mythology, geography, social science, current events, sports, and popular culture. The matches feature a blend of individual competition and team collaboration, since no individual player is likely to be an expert in all subject areas.
This style of competition challenges a coach to craft a roster of 4 starters with a strategic plan for the tournament’s format. Garrison is planning to start Rudra Chaudhary for his Social Studies expertise and Mary Kate Vance, whom Garrison says is “one of the best Language Arts players in Kentucky.” Kasan Peters will be the third starter. He is versatile in both Language Arts and Social Studies. The fourth starting position, Coach Garrison plans to rotate between William Vargas, Diya Nair, and Danica Ingram, as he explains his coaching strategy.
Diya Nair says it’s a balance between speed and knowledge when the pressure is on.
William Vargas tells WCLU News about his transition to the quick recall style of competition.
Ultimately, Kasan Peters expressed that possessing the right mindset is key.
Coach Garrison credits much of the team’s sustained success on the feeder programs in the elementary schools and Glasgow Middle School. Coaches Jefferson Dickinson and Melissa Parocai continue to inspire a younger age group of students to want to be a part of the tradition of excellence that has been established by the Glasgow High School Academic team.
