The Alexandria Knowledge Bowl team is virtually heading to state this Friday, April 9, and coach Harrison Aakre said he thinks the team will be competitive.
This past season, the five-member team has consistently done well, said Aakre. “We are a pretty well-rounded team,” he said. “They work really well together and have a lot of knowledge in a diverse set of topics.”
The Alexandria Area High School Knowledge Bowl team members are freshmen Josephine Hochsprung and Andrew Crowser, sophomore Jacob Fleming, and seniors Christian Fleming and Jack Struck.
ADVERTISEMENT
Jacob Fleming enjoys being on the Knowledge Bowl team because of the competition and how groups of people share random bits of knowledge for a purpose.
“I think our team is sneaky,” said Fleming. “We use our advantages sparingly to rise up on the last few rounds to the top.”
Crowser said he enjoys being on the team because it’s the one time in life where knowing random facts actually helps people.
“I’d say our team is resilient,” said Crowser. “Sometimes, we’d be down by a good amount of points, but we would always bounce back and always try our best.”
The Alexandria Knowledge Bowl team has made it to state three of the past five years. And in 2015, won state under the direction of Tom Smith and Julie Duncan.
Aakre said he is not surprised that this year’s team is going to state. He said the students have outstanding parental support.
“These parents have been involved in their children’s education and initially instilled their love of learning,” he said. “We wouldn’t be there without them.”
He also said that there are outstanding teachers within the school district starting with the elementary teachers who foster the love of learning, to middle school teachers who help further refine that love and then at the high school, there are plenty of advanced classes taught by great teachers, which also help his students.
ADVERTISEMENT
Aakre noted that prior to this year’s team starting, the middle school Knowledge Bowl coach, Haley Kalina, spoke highly of the incoming freshman. And he has had the privilege of having the upperclassmen in either classes he’s taught or in Knowledge Bowl in previous years.
The Knowledge Bowl team members, said Aakre, consistently better themselves by taking difficult courses and they have teachers who have done an excellent job of pushing the students academically.
The coaches, including assistant coach Mandy Meyer, and the members of the Knowledge Bowl are looking forward to the state competition on Friday.
“In Knowledge Bowl, anything can happen!” said Aakre.
