New College of Florida has always been a hub for knowledge in Sarasota. This past year, two New College students took that idea one step further.
Naimul Chowdhury, 26, and Alexander Koutelias, 18, developed a quiz bowl team at New College this past academic year.
Similar to trivia, quiz bowl tests teams on a wide array of information. Whether it’s a question on an obscure African tribe or the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald, anything is game.
Both Chowdhury and Koutelias had previous experience participating in academic competitions. They believed their peers would also enjoy intellectually stimulating competition.
“We all love the same thing, which is knowledge,” Chowdhury said.
The team was established in August 2015. Originally, the club was comprised of around forty members. Now, there a solid twenty students consistently show up to practice and meetings.
Competition is definitely new for the New College campus. Without any major athletic teams, the quiz bowl team acts as an institution for the school to rally behind, said Chowdhury and Koutelias.
“I think that quiz bowl fills a gap in what New College was lacking. It has a very intelligent, very driven student body, but nothing there for people that enjoy competing,” Koutelias said.
The quiz bowl team has already participated in a variety of competitions. Just this past April, the team traveled to University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for a major quiz bowl tournament.
The tournament was comprised of the top 44 teams in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Students from UC Berkley, University of Chicago, and Oxford College were among some in attendance.
New College paid for the team’s plane tickets, hotel rooms and registration fees. The University of Florida’s team had to drive.
However, the team is by no means all work and no play. In their free time, they like to hangout, participate in local trivia events and even sing karaoke, Chowdhury said
With New College already having the largest quiz bowl program in Florida, their success will likely continue in the future. The program will hopefully continue to grow next academic year, said Chowdhury and Koutelias.
“We want to be, like, the sports team for New College,” Chowdhury said.