With its strong finish at GATA Fall Tournament South, the quiz bowl team from Eastside High School in Covington proved itself worthy to play on a national stage.  

On Friday, May 23, the team will represent their school in a 335-team national competition:  National Academic Quiz Tournaments’ High School National Championship Tournament.

Quiz bowl is a competitive, academic, interscholastic activity for teams of four students.  Quiz bowl teams use buzzers to answer questions about science, math, history, literature, mythology, geography, social science, current events, sports and popular culture.  

The matches feature a blend of individual competition and team collaboration, since no individual player is likely to be an expert in all subject areas. Participation in quiz bowl both reinforces lessons from the classroom and encourages players to develop new intellectual interests.

Eastside has attended the High School National Championship Tournament six times before. Most recently, in 2024, they made the playoffs and finished in 97th place.

Eastside may face familiar foes in Atlanta, as Greater Atlanta Christian (from Norcross), Midtown (from Atlanta) and Paideia (from Atlanta) will also be attending.

The team comes in with some nationals experience: Katie Bryan, Simon Reid and Jacob Wilson played the 2024 High School National Championship Tournament in Atlanta and Bryan and Reid played the 2023 High School National Championship Tournament in Atlanta.

The team will be captained by Reid, who will be joined by Bryan and Wilson, plus Benjamin Parson and Oliver Reid. The team will be coached by Eric Adams.

Tournament results will be updated throughout the three days of competition at http://www.naqt.com/go/stats/16002 so anyone can follow along and see how the team does. Interested parties can also follow #hsnct on Instagram. 

The tournament is open to the public, and spectators are welcome to attend at no cost; the Information Desk will be able to help spectators find specific teams’ games.