West Linn High captures second National Journalism Quiz Bowl win in Minneapolis

Students from West Linn High School in Oregon were named JEA National Journalism Quiz Bowl champions on April 18 at the Spring JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention in Minneapolis.

The winning team featured four students representing West Linn High, seniors Garrett Arendt, Iris Hochstettler, Nicholas Hull and Clara Wood. The team is advised by Glenn Krake, CJE.

“It feels incredible,” Arendt said. “Three of us, me, Clara, and Nicholas, we’ve been together the last two years doing Quiz Bowl. Also with the addition of Iris, who knows design work, it really elevated our entire run to where we are. We got over the hump of the first round and made it together to the end.”

“I think the way that we study with the ‘Journalism Jeopardy’ really helps us bond as a team and get to know, ‘Okay, who is great at what kind of questions, who can I expect to buzz in here?’” Wood said. “So there’s a lot more to team communication when we’re actually up there, because we already know from Jeopardy who is going to raise their hand.”

To determine the initial seeding of the finals, 15 teams of four students took an online qualifying test on April 17. The next day, the teams met for rapid-fire buzzer rounds, answering questions pertaining to current events, American history, journalism law, media terminology and civics. The team that scored the highest of 10 questions proceeded to the next round and for the final round, the winner had to score the highest out of 20 questions.

The final matchup was between West Linn and Los Altos High School in California. The Los Altos team featured sophomore Valerie Zhou and juniors Katherine Manessaro, Jade Palatnik and Kate Rose. The team is advised by Jodi Hwang.

“I think it was really fun,” Zhou said. “We honestly didn’t think we were gonna pass the first round. We’re really surprised that we made it to second place.”

At the outset of the competition, West Linn was seeded ninth and challenger Los Altos was seeded eleventh. The final score was West Linn 6, Los Altos 3.

“I was just looking at Garrett’s reactions to every single win, and I was just getting more and more emotional every time, because Garrett and I have been to a bunch of these conventions together,” Hull said. “I’m so proud of everybody on the team.”

This is West Linn High’s second Quiz Bowl win, with one previous win in spring 2018 in San Francisco.

The 15 finalist teams:

Archbishop Riordan High School, San Francisco, California

Branham High School, San Jose, California

Delta (Colorado) High School

Francis Howell North High School, Saint Charles, Missouri

The Harker School (#1), San Jose, California

The Harker School (#2), San Jose, California

The Harker School (#3), San Jose, California

The Harker School (#4), San Jose, California

Los Altos (California) High School

South Pasadena (California) High School

St. Mark’s of Texas, Dallas

Westfield (Indiana) High School (#1)

Westfield (Indiana) High School (#2)

West Linn (Oregon) High School (#1)

West Linn (Oregon) High School (#2)

Cover photo: Nicholas Hull, Clara Wood, Garrett Arendt and Iris Hochstettler