In April and May, members of the FSS quizbowl team were scheduled to head to Chicago and Atlanta to participate in two national championship tournaments.  Due to COVID-19, these tournaments have been canceled. 

At the Small School National Championship (SSNCT) in Chicago, from April 22nd to 24th, only schools with relatively few students would have competed. Friends Select planned to bring one team, totaling five students. Last year the team came in eleventh place. 

Also on April 24th, the Pennsylvania State Academic Competition was to be held at the capitol building in Harrisburg. The B team would have attended.

From May 22nd to 24th, the High School National Championship (HSNCT) would bring together teams from all over the US to compete. Friend Select planned to field two teams, each consisting of 4-5 players. Friends Select A team member Jonah Taranta ‘20 says, “It’s all the best quizbowl teams in the country, they come to Atlanta and they play quizbowl for three days and they play very hard questions.” In 2019, the A team tied for 31st out of over 330 teams.

Head coach Ian Lockey, the Upper School Latin teacher, hoped that the team would “beat our excellent performances from last year.”

To prepare for the tournaments, Jonah says the team had “been practicing multiple times a week. We have been studying very diligently for this competition. Our gracious coach Ian Lockey has been working very hard to make sure we do our best.”

The team planned to hold fundraisers to pay for the trip, including their annual popcorn sale.