Last weekend, Trinity School hosted the London regional tournament for the International History Bee and Bowl competition and had its most successful year in the competition to date.
Mrs Molteni, Teacher of History, reports back, “This year, we fielded seven teams in total and competed against City of London School, City of London Freeman’s, Eton College, Farnham Head End School, Latymer Upper School and Strode. This year’s competition was fierce with CLS and Eton providing the biggest challenges to our teams.
“However, we were thrilled when our Middle School team, made up of Micah, Alex, Seb H and Max came first! Our Sixth Form team, comprising Jirka, Lukas, Alex F and Alex M came second in the Varsity competition. And Seb V, Emile, Ed, Rishi, Iwo and Alexander Ma came third in the Junior Varsity competition.”
Special mention goes to Third Year Micah who came second in the Bee competition out of 25 competitors. Micah shares his thoughts on the competition:
“Have you ever been in a situation where a question seems unanswerable, something no one could ever get right? But then you suddenly realise that in fact, you do know the answer, and it feels like you are the smartest person in the world. It gives you a sense of pride that you listened during last Friday’s History lesson. A fact that you thought would never have any use at all appears to be the best piece of information you ever heard. You feel on top of the world!
“Then you realise that the other team has already answered the question and now you look like an idiot because you have pressed the buzzer and shouted for a question that has already been answered. And now your team is 30 points behind Eton.
“I did exactly this during the final of the History Bowl last Saturday. Yet, my team did not collapse. They did not resign themselves to a loss. They refused to be defeated by those [confident] Etonians. Inspired by the tenacious spirit of my team, I managed to redeem myself by answering the next question…before the other team. Then another question that was impossibly obscure got asked. I mean, what music piece did Dakshina Mohan Tagore write? I still have no idea. Oh good, the Etonians know. Luckily, my team knew things that Eton did not or at least could press the buzzer quicker than them. In the end, we just pipped them to a brilliant win. It felt amazing to have won a competition that some of the most prestigious schools in the country compete for; it felt even better to win it with my friends. Overall, the day felt like a big University Challenge. The only thing missing was the automated voice to say ‘Trinity Thompson’ when I buzzed in, and the cameras to zoom in on my embarrassed face when I once again stopped my teammate from answering a question by accidentally leaning on the buzzer.”
Congratulations to the 34 Trinity students who took part in the competition – they faced some tough questions and tough opponents, but they all did their best with a smile on their face [cue close-up].
Scroll right to see more stories
