Sterling’s Scholastic Bowl team has started up their season with first year head coach Nicole Schlemmer. She has been getting the scholastic bowl team ready as they all prepare to win many matches. She wanted to be the coach and she is “very excited to learn and try new things. I also want to get to know some of the kids outside of just school”. 

  All people participating are preparing for their upcoming season. Senior Yamaan Alkhalaf says that they are “practicing twice a week in order to expand [their] knowledge to prepare for [their] matches”. 

  As well as student preparation, coach Schlemmer is also preparing for the season. She says that “she has researched and studied” scholastic bowl and how she can help the team win. Schlemmer has also asked Rock Falls coach Heidi Ripley for tips to prepare herself, so that she can gather as much information as she can for this season. 

  When asked about how Schlemmer is preparing the kids, she said she is “using a variety of materials like the NAQT [National Academic Quiz Tournaments] practice questions. [She] also use[s] quizlet live flashcard sets and blooket as review”. She also gave the kids a scholastic bowl folder with review material that they can study for themselves. 

 The team currently has ten members that are participating this year. There is only one freshman on the team this year , Jacob Straw. Straw participated in scholastic bowl at CMS. Nicole Schlemmer says that she “wants more underclassmen on the team for the upcoming future as we are very heavy on seniors this year”. 

  The team is set to be at many quad matches this semester and they are still in the process of looking for more opponents for the next semester. They are sending and receiving emails from schools an hour or less away for travel time. 

  As the team is still in the middle of their season, they hope to continue to be successful in their matches during the season and take advantage of the experience the team has this year.