Mid Michigan Community College?

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dhumphreys17
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Mid Michigan Community College?

Post by dhumphreys17 »

My name is Devin Humphreys, and I am a member of Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart Academy High School's quiz bowl team. I am dual-enrolled at Mid Michigan Community College, and will be a junior in high school come fall. I want to know (1) if starting up a team will be worth the effort, and (2) if the community college circuit is feasible. There is no Michigan community college circuit; we'd need to go to Illinois to compete or host a tournament here. Does anyone have any experience with starting up a team like this?

NOTE: I am a member of MMCC's Phi Theta Kappa chapter, whose advisor is also the Director of Student Life and therefore has the reins on the all-important budget, so that isn't necessarily an issue.
Devin James John Humphreys
Sacred Heart Academy High School (MI), Class of 2017 - 2015 HSNCT, 2016 NSC, 2017 NSC
Michigan State University, B.A. Class of 2020
University of Notre Dame, J.D. Class of 2023 - standby 2023 ICT-DII; coach 2023-24
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Habitat_Against_Humanity
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Re: Mid Michigan Community College?

Post by Habitat_Against_Humanity »

Is there a reason you can't have a team at your high school? I'm originally from mid-Michigan and I distinctly remember the Mt. Pleasant area having a good deal of high school activity, albeit on after school league meets (which I don't necessarily believe are inferior to Saturday tournaments). Unless things have taken a sour sour turn, I remember playing against teams like Alma, Ithaca, and having a healthy rivalry with a couple of obnoxious kids from Mt. Pleasant itself. Honestly, a high school team would most likely be much easier to start.

EDIT: Read the first sentence. Question still stands though as to why you'd need/want a CC team in addition to a high school team.
Rachel
UChicago 09
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dhumphreys17
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Re: Mid Michigan Community College?

Post by dhumphreys17 »

We already do have a rather successful team at our high school which has beaten the likes of the teams you described and went 3-7 at HSNCT last year. Of course, I want to improve, and I think one way of accomplishing this goal would be by competing at the collegiate level. Because I'm dual-enrolled already, a way to accomplish this goal would be to play for the community college I dual-enroll at, but they don't have a team. So that's the basis for my question. Would I be able to make this work?

FURTHER NOTE: R Robot Hentzel said that I meet CC eligibility requirements with my dual-enrollment.
Devin James John Humphreys
Sacred Heart Academy High School (MI), Class of 2017 - 2015 HSNCT, 2016 NSC, 2017 NSC
Michigan State University, B.A. Class of 2020
University of Notre Dame, J.D. Class of 2023 - standby 2023 ICT-DII; coach 2023-24
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Corry
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Re: Mid Michigan Community College?

Post by Corry »

If you want to improve at quiz bowl by attending harder tournaments, many college quiz bowl tournaments are actually open to high school teams (except official ACF and NAQT events). So you don't have to start a team at your community college to play-- you could drag your high school team to college tournaments instead.

Alternatively, you could eschew college tournaments altogether, and just attend the high school tournaments they run down in Detroit or Illinois. This might actually be more useful to your development as a quiz bowl player; the high school competition in those areas is very tough, and the questions they play on (regular NAQT IS, housewrites, etc.) are marginally harder than the NAQT questions used in Quiz Central.
Corry Wang
Arcadia High School 2013
Amherst College 2017
NAQT Writer and Subject Editor
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Habitat_Against_Humanity
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Re: Mid Michigan Community College?

Post by Habitat_Against_Humanity »

Yeah, it's not clear to me that starting a CC team would be the best way to get better as a player. If you already have a team that performed decently at HSNCT and are already interested in quiz bowl, I imagine it would be easier to continue to compete with them rather than starting a CC team from scratch in a geographically-disadvantageous area that doesn't really doesn't have a nearby university quiz bowl presence, let alone any sort of established CC competition. If you go the CC route, you'll have to recruit and deal with collegiate red tape (I don't know if MMCC would necessarily be keen on having someone under the age of 18 go to Illinois under its auspices without a guardian). I would say look for more competitive high school tournaments and get your already-quizbowl-playing teammates to join you. If you do go the CC route, I really think you have your work cut out for you, but more power to you.
Rachel
UChicago 09
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dhumphreys17
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Re: Mid Michigan Community College?

Post by dhumphreys17 »

Thanks for the advice.
Devin James John Humphreys
Sacred Heart Academy High School (MI), Class of 2017 - 2015 HSNCT, 2016 NSC, 2017 NSC
Michigan State University, B.A. Class of 2020
University of Notre Dame, J.D. Class of 2023 - standby 2023 ICT-DII; coach 2023-24
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