Mellon Bowl, Pittsburgh, 10/27 CANCELLED

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setophaga
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Mellon Bowl, Pittsburgh, 10/27 CANCELLED

Post by setophaga »

Carnegie Mellon Quiz Bowl is pleased to announce that we will host Mellon Bowl XVI on our Pittsburgh campus on Saturday, October 27, 2018.

In contrast to previous editions of this tournament, we especially encourage players and schools newer to quizbowl to play this tournament. We will be including a separate division for schools that have never played pyramidal quizbowl before, or those back after a long hiatus. Additionally, this is a great opportunity for established quizbowl schools to introduce new players to quizbowl.

We encourage teams aiming to qualify for nationals to attend Pitt’s SAGACITY tournament on November 17.

Questions: PSACA Novice 2

Format: Standard format with powers and negs. Rounds will be untimed, but we hope to keep the tournament moving at a fast and consistent pace.

Nationals Qualification: There will be no nationals qualification at this tournament. Please see below for details.

Divisions: This tournament will have 2 divisions. Eligibility for Division II is as follows. The school sponsoring the team must have never played a pyramidal quizbowl tournament, or not done so in at least 3 years. Schools with established quizbowl programs may enter Division II teams, provided that they are comprised of players in their first tournament.

All other teams must play in Division I. We encourage exceptionally strong teams (e.g. previously top 50% at HSNCT) against registering for this tournament at full-strength. We encourage such teams to additionally play SAGACITY at Pitt, or attend our spring tournament, Carnegie Quiz, which will run a regular-difficulty IS set.

Field Size: There is an initial soft cap of 16 teams in Division I and 8 teams in Division II, with potential to expand to 32 teams total, pending staff.

Registration: To register, please visit our website, cmuquizbowl.org, and fill out the Mellon Bowl registration form under “Events.” Alternatively, you can email us at cmuquizbowl [at] gmail [dot] com with the number of teams, buzzers, and moderators you plan to bring. Registration will close on Friday, October 19.
At this time, we have two spots open in D1 and one spot open in D2, pending expansion. Teams who register after these spaces are fulfilled will be placed on a waitlist.

Fees and discounts:

-First team: $75
-Additional teams: $65 each
-Buzzer system: -$10 each
-New to quizbowl discount: -$20 each
-Moderator/scorekeeper: -$15 each

Minimum fee per team: $40. Buzzers must be completely functional to receive discount; moderators should be experienced and are required to email their background clearances to Child Protection Services.

Payment: Please make checks out to "Carnegie Mellon University". We prefer to be paid with cash or check on the day of the tournament; please email if you need to make other arrangements.

Schedule: Team check-in will be from 8:30 to 9:00 am, with round 1 starting by 9:30. Number of rounds and playoff/finals format will be determined by the field size. Logistical information will be provided to registered teams.

IMPORTANT: We take safety at this tournament extremely seriously, and involved staffers at this tournament have been background-cleared at the state and federal level. Under PA Act 153 regulations, all students participating in this tournament MUST present a signed waiver from CMU's Child Protection Services in order to play. We will email a PDF of this waiver to each team upon registration. If students are under 18 years of age, a parent must cosign.

If you have any questions, please direct them to [email protected].
Field ( D1 teams/D2 teams/moderators/buzzers)
Sharpesville Area High School (2/0/0/0)
Chartiers Valley High School (1/0/0/1)
South Side High School (2/0/0/1)
Pittsburgh Central Catholic (1/1/0/0)
Hampton High School (1/2/0/0)
Yough Senior High School (2/0/0/0)
North Catholic High School (1/0/0/0)
Salisbury - Elk Lick High School (0/1/0/0)
Kane Area High School (2/0/0/0)
Taylor Allderdice High School (2/2/?/?)
Last edited by setophaga on Sat Oct 27, 2018 2:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Sameer Apte
Carnegie Mellon '19
New England Conservatory '21
Stony Brook '25
setophaga
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Posts: 56
Joined: Thu Nov 05, 2015 8:18 pm

Re: Mellon Bowl XVI, Pittsburgh, 10/27/2018

Post by setophaga »

Due to the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, this tournament has been cancelled.
The school is currently on lockdown; I will provide updates here when students are released.
Sameer Apte
Carnegie Mellon '19
New England Conservatory '21
Stony Brook '25
setophaga
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Posts: 56
Joined: Thu Nov 05, 2015 8:18 pm

Re: Mellon Bowl XVI, Pittsburgh, 10/27/2018

Post by setophaga »

[CW: mass homicide, religious hate crimes, specifically anti-Semitism]
This tournament began at 9:30 AM. At 10:21 AM, we received a vague message from CMU's alert system that a police operation was occurring at Wilkins and Shady Avenues, about two miles from the site of the tournament. At 11:00, it was brought to moderators' attention that a fatal shooting had occurred at the Tree of Life congregation in Squirrel Hill, which some students had personal connections to. We made the decision to let students contact family and friends independently to make sure they were OK. At 11:18 AM, we received an official alert that there was an active shooter in Squirrel Hill, but at the same time viewed multiple reports that the shooter was in police custody. Carnegie Mellon never issued a formal lockdown order, only a shelter-in-place, so we decided to continue with the tournament, giving students time to call their families.
At 11:45 AM, we received an order to cancel all school-sponsored activities: we immediately cancelled the tournament and held all students in game rooms until the shelter-in-place order was lifted. All students were then dismissed successfully from the tournament.
You can find details about the shooting here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/27/us/a ... oting.html. The content warnings posted above apply.

Thanks to all the teams for working with us to ensure a speedy and efficient dismissal. We hope that all family and friends of players are OK.

Partial statistics, if posted, will appear at a later date out of respect for the victims of the shooting.

We have already scheduled an appointment with SLICE (the student activities committee) and the student vice presidents of organizations and finance to discuss refunding teams for this tournament. For participating teams, expect an announcement about this early next week. We are also working with Pitt to hopefully expand the field for their SAGACITY tournament on Saturday, November 17.

Again, we are so sorry that we had to cancel the tournament, and we hope that we were able to enact this emergency protocol in an effective and professional manner.
Sameer Apte
Carnegie Mellon '19
New England Conservatory '21
Stony Brook '25
Saratoga
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Re: Mellon Bowl, Pittsburgh, 10/27 CANCELLED

Post by Saratoga »

On behalf of the South Side Quiz Bowl team, I want to thank the Mellon Bowl tournament director and staff for how they handled a very difficult situation. It was a confusing, and ultimately, tragic day and they did their best to keep everyone calm and safe. From the perspective of a teacher, I was extraordinarily impressed with how this group of young people handled themselves. Thank you all.
Samuel McCoy
South Side High School Coach
Social Studies Teacher
Hookstown, PA
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