Interest in mirroring the Junior Wildcat?

Dormant threads from the high school sections are preserved here.
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Awehrman
Wakka
Posts: 150
Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2004 9:08 am
Location: Marietta, OH

Interest in mirroring the Junior Wildcat?

Post by Awehrman »

As mentioned in the middle school thread, I would like to invite colleges, high schools, and middle schools from around the country to host mirrors of Northwestern's 2009 Junior Wildcat tournament this winter and spring. The tournament, which was held on 2/21/09 in Evanston, IL, featured rounds of 20 tossups and 20 30-point bonuses intended for middle school and junior high level players. Although intended for middle schoolers, the set could relatively easily be altered for a freshmen/sophomore or Junior Varisty level tournament. Just look at these rave reviews of the Junior Wildcat!

“The questions were THE best middle school tournament questions I've ever heard in 12 years of coaching.”

“If a circuit is going to develop, you may wish to contact the aforementioned Professor Wehrman as his 9-round middle school packet was a flippin' masterpiece of middle school, pyramidal quizbowl. If I were king of Illinois middle school quizbowl, he'd be the new State Series writer.”—Jeff P., Station Middle School, Barrington, IL Coach

"From the quality of the questions to the caliber of the competition to the competence of the staff, this tournament was simply awesome. Going back to the standard IESA format for the rest of the season, including the state series, seems sinful…. Every team I witnessed today not only enjoyed, but also excelled on pyramidal questions and ACF-style bonuses. And, speaking only for my players, I truly believe it brought out the best in the team. That speaks volumes more than the score of any match or a trophy ever could. And it is precisely that, the ability of excellent questions to raise the level of their competitors—to serve as both a teaching tool and a pathway to knowledge—that outweighs any counter-argument. Tournaments like this have raised the bar of scholastic bowl in Illinois."—Nathan H., Northlawn Junior High, Streator, IL Coach

"I had uber-low expectations given my limited middle school quizbowl experience, and I was blown away by the level of competition and quality of questions. Despite some difficult questions, there were several rounds in which the teams I moderated for converted 90% of the tossups and thirtied several bonuses. I believe it was Shantanu [Jha] who said that this tournament "hit the sweet spot" of middle school pyramidality, accessibility, and difficulty."—Jack G., Loyola Academy [reader at the tournament]

"This was an outstanding tournament, and I'm very grateful for the invitation to attend. The experience will prove very beneficial to my kids as we look to improve our performances here at home. I really enjoyed the questions and the format - too bad we don't do anything close to that around here."—Matt D., Sandusky Middle School (MI) Coach

If you are interested in setting up a mirror of the this tournament, please contact me at wehrman[at]northwestern[dot]edu, and we can make the necessary arrangements.
Andy Wehrman
(formerly of Arkansas and Northwestern)
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