Faculty vs. Student Quiz Bowl
May 2, 2019
On Thursday, April 25th, Oratory Prep’s Quiz Bowl team competed in an exhibition competition against some of Oratory’s finest teachers. The Quiz Bowl guys, including juniors and many seniors who had put in years of work in the club, and now got to kick back and show off their skills, arrived, and went into action, setting up their buzzers and getting into position. Soon, the teachers arrived: Mr. Horan, former three-time Jeopardy champion and wealth of knowledge, Mr. Campobello, enigmatic Italian bakery owner with many hobbies I’ve heard about over the years, Mr. Gaertner, former lacrosse coach and man of the people, Mrs. Gribbin, queen of snark and entertainment trivia, Mrs. Pasnik, biology and environmental science extraordinaire and fishing specialist, Mr. Kearns, master of the English language and literature encyclopedia, and Mr. Marsh and Mr. Corcoran, two fan favorites that I am unfortunately relatively unfamiliar with. Things were not looking good for the students. Quickly, a crowd formed. Yes, a crowd of spectators, something strange and unknown to the Quiz Bowl team. Even Mr. Daugherty came in and played a round, with Mr. McGowan popping in to check and make sure his fellow teachers knew their film trivia (big film guy) and many more members of the OP community stopping by. It was truly a celebration of the Oratory community and knowledge…Too bad it was a slaughter. As Mr. McCrystal, head of Quiz Bowl had briefed us, students were going against some smart people. Even Quiz Bowl’s vast knowledge stood no chance against men and women like Mr. Horan, who nearly single-handedly swept an entire quarter for his team. Even Mrs. Gribbin, who complained about her lack of trivia knowledge, eviscerated a section on TV characters. When asked the last name of the family in the Cosby Show, she rattled off the entire cast’s full names. Yours truly was only able to snag a question about the sport of curling. But it was certainly a great time, a great end to Quiz Bowl for the year and a great send off for our seniors.