With its strong finish at the Berea Academic Tournament (The BAT), the Quick Recall team from Danville High School proved themselves worthy to play on a national stage.  On Friday, April 26, the team will represent their school in a 143-team national competition, the National Academic Quiz Tournaments’ Small School National Championship Tournament.

Quiz bowl is a competitive, academic, interscholastic activity for teams of four students.  It is the national version of the game that is often locally called Quick Recall.  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.  Participation in quiz bowl both reinforces lessons from the classroom and encourages players to develop new intellectual interests.

Danville has attended the Small School National Championship Tournament eight times before.  Most recently, in 2023, they made the playoffs and finished in eighth place.

The SSNCT is the only quiz bowl national championship pitting small schools against each other.  It has one division containing non-selective public schools with 500 or fewer students in their top three grades, and another division for other schools with 350 or fewer students in their top three grades.  Danville may face familiar foes in Rosemont, as Casey County (from Liberty) and Glasgow will also be attending.

The team comes in with some nationals experience: Jack Erwin, Carsen Wastell, and Sam Wilson played the 2023 High School National Championship Tournament in Atlanta, Georgia; Carsen Wastell played the 2023 Small School National Championship Tournament in Rosemont, Illinois (near Chicago); and Carsen Wastell and Sam Wilson played the 2022 Small School National Championship Tournament in Rosemont, Illinois (near Chicago).

The team, in the Traditional Public Schools Division, will consist of Kaiden Earle, Jack Erwin, Madeline Purdom, Carsen Wastell, Razz West, and Sam Wilson.  The team will be coached by Rob Kremer.

Tournament results will be updated throughout the three days of competition at naqt.com/go/stats/14701 so everyone can follow along and see how the team does.  You can also follow #ssnct on Twitter.