Morning Journal/Mary Ann Greier Members and coaches of the Salem High School Academic Challenge Team and Coaches pose with some of the gear they won this year, including the Columbiana County Academic Challenge Champion , the 2022 Mahoning League Quiz Bowl Premier College Division Champion, Tournament Mahoning Quiz Bowl Champion, and Columbiana County Junior High School Third. Members include from left, middle school coach Jesse Dotson, eighth Bella Gallagher, who trained with the high school team, second Noah Frank, junior Gabe Murray with the County Champion’s traveling trophy of Columbiana, senior co-captain Colin Gallagher and senior co-captain Nick Colbert with the traveling Mahoning Quiz Bowl Tournament Champion trophy, sophomore Ethan Shelhart with the traveling Mahoning Quiz Bowl League trophy, rookie Ina Henthorne, junior Stephanie Watkins and high school coach Sue Skiba. Unpictured high school team members include freshman Camron Bodine, senior Katie Wassem, and freshman Kaitlyn Young.

SALEM — At a very young age, Salem High School senior Nick Colbert learned about all the states and capitals, then moved on to presidents.

Fellow senior Colin Gallagher watched much of the Jeopardy quiz show.

Six years ago, the two joined forces in Academic Challenge, taking on many bigger schools to beat their buzzers and answer questions correctly on a number of topics.

The two co-captains, along with their senior varsity teammates Katie Wassem, juniors Gabe Murray and Stephanie Watkins and sophomores Ethan Shelhart and Noah Frank, put their experience and knowledge on display this year, earning an invitation to the Small School National Quiz Bowl Tournament in Chicago, Illinois on April 21-22.

They also earned a trip to the regional Ohio Academic Challenge competition in Copley on April 9. From there, they could meet up in Columbus for the Ohio Academic Challenge state competition in May.

The line from the movie Jaws where Chief Brody says “you’re gonna need a bigger boat” comes to mind.

This group of academic marvels needs a bigger showcase.

“I can’t do what these kids are doing” said high school coach Sue Skiba.

Undefeated 2022 Mahoning League Quiz Bowl Tournament Champs against 24 other teams. Mahoning League Division Champions four consecutive years, winning 51 consecutive sets, undefeated in the regular season four consecutive years, this year’s Division 1 champion. Champions of the 2022 Columbiana County Academic Challenge for the fourth straight crown.

She said these students have been on the quiz bowl and radar of the Ohio Academic Challenge for some time, proving to be a competitive and quality small school team during an invitational to Kentucky last year and OAC regionals. Last year.

They kicked off the season by hosting an invitational event in Salem in October, drawing well-known teams like former small-school national Champ Toledo School of the Arts and big-school powerhouse Solon. By placing first for Small School Public in this invite, Salem earned its place in the national tournament in Chicago.

At the NAQT Small School State Tournament in Upper Sandusky on March 12, Salem won first place for Small School Public and second place overall after a best-of-three playoff with the Toledo School of the Arts.

Salem also competed in the Alliance Kiwanis/University of Mount Union competition on March 6, placing second after a tiebreaker with Alliance. On April 2, Salem will host a fun tournament called Trash, with quizzes covering pop culture, music, games, movies, and other fun topics. Even some adult teams will participate.

The high school members train weekly as a team, but also do a lot of work alone, separately and together, on an online training app. The varsity team also invites varsity junior and secondary junior teams to train with them in person, giving them more experience and knowledge of the game.

Skiba said they accomplished a lot and she was just grateful to have taken her with them.

A typical competition has quiz questions, then if the team buzzes first and gets the answer right, they’re given bonus questions, earning them even more points. Topics can range from descriptions of snakes to complex scientific or mathematical equations.

“They can ask a question about anything, absolutely anything,” Skiba said.

The questions are worded according to the level of competition, keeping in mind that some high school students are already taking college-level courses. Some questions also deal with different languages.

Skiba has been coaching since 2005 and took over the varsity team in 2014.

“I think we worked really well as a team. It was fun doing it,” said Colin.

It’s his last year and he said he didn’t take it that seriously, so there wasn’t as much pressure.

“We knew we could be good” he said.

He will miss being with his friends next year. He plans to double major in computer science and math at The Ohio State University.

Her knowledge partner, Nick, plans to double major in finance and accounting at John Carroll University and hopes to get involved in a college academic challenge team.

“I will miss it so much” he said.

His advice to young students is to have fun with the academic challenge. He admitted that science questions are the hardest, but history is the easiest. He practices every day, but also participates in other activities.

He and Skiba said the group was like a family and the team members fed each other with their energy during the competition.

Goaltender Mary Hough has been described as their number one fan and Skiba recently presented the team to the school board, touting all of their accomplishments. She said they are looking forward to the Small School Nationals in Chicago after facing former national champions this year.

“These young people deserved it” she says.

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