The once high school restricted activity Masterminds has come down to middle school. Mrs. Silsby has signed on to coach an Academic Challenge Bowl team for middle school to prepare for the Masterminds team in high school. While only having minimal experience with an Academic Quiz team (cheering on the team while in high school!), Mrs. Silsby is up for the challenge and loves doing so. 

For those who don’t know what Masterminds or an Academic Challenge Bowl is, it is a quiz where students are asked random trivia questions about a wide array of topics. It is “very structured trivia.” 

Mrs. Silsby wants to coach this branch of Masterminds for many reasons. She really wants to see students excel in places other than math.  She was also recommended by Mr. Miller!

There are many great reasons why you should join Masterminds. Players get encouraged for showing knowledge and “learn how to think on their feet and answer in a peaceful manner.” You need to be able to recall information quickly and think on your feet, a necessary skill in the modern quick-paced world. Patience is also important. When you hit the buzzer, you need to wait for your team to be called while still recalling the information. You aren’t supposed to blurt out the answers. Lastly, the team building. The game really brings them together and allows them to simultaneously depend on one another while helping each other out.  In between memorizing facts about Greek mythology and operas, a close knit bond was formed. 

 Mrs. Silsby can already tell that there will be many great times this season! At the start, she really didn’t know how this was going to go. But through the competitions she saw the excitement in her students’ eyes. She expressed,“There is a drive to get it right, there is a need to get it right”.

Overall, Masterminds/Academic Challenge Bowl is a wonderful group that creates tight bonds, lifelong skills, and builds knowledge. After reading this article, I hope that you’ve been convinced that joining the Masterminds is not a trivia-l thing!