One of Scituate High School’s most beloved clubs is the History Bowl. Composed of students from all grades, this club attracts students who love history and specific niches–exploring topics from American politics to Greek philosophy–or any period in between.
The club has a competition-like format: students are asked history questions in four quarters per round. The first quarter includes random history questions. The second quarter features random history questions with a bonus question if you get it right. The third quarter is when each team gets to pick which history category they would like to answer out of the three provided (British kings, women in literature, the Vietnam War, etc.). The fourth and final quarter includes random history questions; however, teams earn points depending on how many words from the question are read. (The more words you need, the fewer points you get.)
Club members invest a significant amount of time and effort to prepare for the History Bowl competitions. The club’s president, senior Matthew Carolan, said he enjoys the opportunity for “friendly nerds to talk about history and have fun together in a way they aren’t really able to do anywhere else.”
Carolan is the third consecutive SHS History Bowl president who will attend Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Elizabeth Larkin, SHS Class of 2022, and Julia Zegunia, SHS Class of 2023, preceded him. When asked about this unusual–possibly historic–statistic, Carolan responded, “Third time’s the charm!”
Carolan may also be referring to the club’s success despite its relatively short history:
During the winter season, the club hosted and participated in the regional competition–representing the second time they’ve hosted and the third time they’ve participated. With help from members of the SHS National Honor Society and SHS history teachers Kristen Emerson and Richard Kermond, the club’s faculty adviser, the regional competition was a success. The SHS varsity team won five out of their seven rounds, including against Scituate’s rival, Boston Latin School. With this amazing triumph, Scituate qualifies for the national competition hosted in Washington, D.C., which they have qualified for and attended twice before.
Kermond weighed in on how students who haven’t competed in the regional competition before were able to get a “ton of experience” for future competitions. Kermond also said members of the History Bowl are “unlike any group” he’s seen at the school, adding that the group enjoys “enormous competition but enormous comradery.”
Qualifying for the national competition required extraordinary dedication. In fact, leading up to the regional competition, club members practiced in Kermond’s classroom after school Monday through Friday. Although five wins were certainly remarkable—especially against highly competitive schools like Boston Latin School, which placed 16th in the national competition in 2021—the commitment and hard work this team put in were the winning factors for their victory.
This year, the national competition will be held from April 25th through 28th. However, since several members of the History Bowl club also participate in the SHS music program, they will join the SHS Disney trip to Florida in April. Consequently, the team may not be attending the national competition. Nevertheless, the team is returning to their regular Wednesday and Friday practices.
SHS senior David Murphy, a club officer, explained that limiting their practices in the spring “allows more people to be involved.” Murphy also emphasized how it’s a very good atmosphere during practices because “everyone seems to be brought together by a shared love of history.”