Poplar Bluff High School won the championship for the Senior Quiz Bowl at the National Beta Convention over the summer in Orlando.
Of the Poplar Bluff students who qualified to compete on the national stage, a total of 33 were able to attend the Florida convention, alongside teacher chaperones and parents.
In addition to the Quiz Bowl team—comprised of Mackinley Cox and Jack Funke of the Class of 2025, now senior Claire Funke, and junior Jackson Kennedy—nine individual students earned placements during the subsequent Elementary and Junior Beta Conventions representing Junior High, Middle School and Lake Road.
Other students who placed nationally included: freshman Chloe Joiner, third place in American history; eighth grader Kilyn Talley, fourth place in health and physical education; eighth grader Maddox Campbell, fifth in American history; freshman Brianna Clark, fifth in health and physical education; sixth grader Bree Blackwell, sixth in visual arts – drawing; freshman MacKynzie Cluck, eighth in social studies; freshman Jasmine Charest, 10th in spelling; sixth grader Willow Gillean, 10th in cake decorating; and freshman Phoebe Hyde, 10th in the color photography category.
The first-place Quiz Bowl team was seeded 16th in the tournament, advancing through all four rounds against students from multiple states, educators reported. Although the team was self-organized, as it was not a Missouri State High School Athletics Association-sanctioned event, the students deemed it appropriate to present their plaque to Academic Team sponsor Gail Karlish of the PBHS Science Department for display earlier this month.
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Cutline: (Left to right) Claire Funke, Mackinley Cox, Jack Funke and Jackson Kennedy display the Senior Quiz Bowl Championship trophy at the National Beta Convention this summer.