With more than 1,000 registered student organizations at ASU, a few are bound to go unnoticed. With that in mind, reporter Bridget Dowd decided to reach out to ASU’s various locations and spotlight the diverse groups of our school. Whether you’re looking for a new club to join or are just interested in learning about unique student interests, this blog is right for you.
Whether you love trivia games, want to strengthen your general knowledge or can’t seem to get enough fun facts, the Academic Quizbowl Club at ASU might just be the perfect fit.
Having been around since 2008, the club faces off against other universities and colleges in academic competitions throughout the year.
Club president Son Vo, a senior biochemistry and history major, has been a part of Quizbowl for three years. Vo participated in Academic Decathlon competitions in high school and joined after seeing Quizbowl at an involvement fair his freshman year. He said it’s a great way to meet new people, and they always love to see new students join.
(Left to right) Nathan Davis, Son Vo and Justin Lu compete at an academic competition in October 2013 at ASU. (Photo courtesy of Son Vo)“For a small knit club with not a lot of members, we are generally very active,” Vo said. “We travel multiple times per year to events in order to compete and (we’re) getting good results.”
He added that ASU’s Quizbowl region covers Southern California, so the team's rivals include University of California San Diego, University of California Los Angeles, the Claremont colleges, and the California Institute of Technology.
“We love to learn new things,” Vo said. “Quizbowl gives us an opportunity to be exposed to fields that you may not be familiar with in your major studies.”
Vo said that the topics covered at competitions are wide spread, ranging from literature to philosophy to economics and more. Students answer questions as a team to score points. He said the members read from as many sources as possible, whether it’s on the Internet or from books, on different subjects in order to prepare for tournaments.
Despite being such a small club, Vo said they have very large ambitions.
“We have far reaching goals this year of qualifying and playing at the Quizbowl Nationals tournament,” Vo said. “Our long term goal is to grow Quizbowl in the state of Arizona.”
The club has a tournament this weekend at the Claremont Colleges in California.
Quizbowl meets for practice once a week on Thursday evenings. For more information, search for Quizbowl at orgsync.com or email asuquizbowl@gmail.com.
Reach the reporter at bridget.dowd@asu.edu or follow @bridgetbernice on Twitter.
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
