“What is the capital of Italy?” is a typical question that Knowledge Bowl competitors would see in a competition. At Durango High School, a silent room of about 14 students bursts into action, thrilled to hear a question they think they know the answer to. While this experience may seem more or less like something left behind in fifth grade, this is what the DHS Knowledge Bowl club sees every lunch practice, enrichment period, and tournament. In fact, it’s something they experienced on Wednesday, Oct. 3, with the first competition of the year, hosted at DHS.

Knowledge Bowl is defined by the Colorado Knowledge Bowl organization as, “Several interdisciplinary academic quiz bowl-like competitions across the United States and the world. Knowledge Bowl in Colorado typically involves teams of four to six students trying to answer questions in a written round and several oral rounds. No team is eliminated in this event, and every team participates in every round.” The DHS club has a history of being extremely successful, and it’s looking more and more like the 2024 season will be very exciting!

DHS senior Larkyn Sarver is the co-president of this year’s Knowledge Bowl team. “We’ll probably be able to win regionals and place pretty high at state, and hopefully improve our standing at nationals.” she said when asked for her outlook for the 24/25 season.The Durango club is made of three teams, one varsity, one junior varsity, and one freshman team. DHS dominated at the first tournament of the year, a meet attended by other Knowledge Bowl Teams from Pagosa, Bayfield, and GOAL. The varsity team won first place, the freshmen team third, and the JV team took fourth place. Overall, it was a successful meet for all our Durango teams

Junior Liam McAllister talked about how much he enjoys Knowledge Bowl. “My favorite thing about Knowledge Bowl is that it’s a chance to answer some questions, and you know, hang out.” Knowledge Bowl is a lively club, filled with shouts of success, groans when team members fail an easy question, and the occasional “SINCE WHEN!!” Knowledge Bowl is an opportunity for some of the more academically inclined students of Durango High School to hang out and challenge each other. 

While the meet on Oct. 3 was relatively small compared to future tournaments, it was a good practice, and the results were promising. Colt Christofferson reflected on the meet, saying, “I feel like it went surprisingly well, I was not expecting to really do much.” This was the first time many of the freshmen had ever competed before. However, despite being inexperienced, the freshmen team proved themselves to be a valuable asset, and an auspicious next generation.

The first competition of the year for a typically overlooked club went extremely well.