by: Aaron Fiskind
Many of TABC's academic teams have already begun preparing for their opening competitions of the year. TABC teams tend to be at the top of their respective academic divisions and exude a certain sense of dominance when they arrive to compete. This year was no different with TABC teams getting off to a fast start in their respective leagues.
College Bowl has been considered one of TABC's best academic teams. It combines the knowledge of current events, history, science, technology, literature, and mathematics together into one jeopardy style trivia game. Almost every Yeshiva in the New York/New Jersey region participates within the league as it is looked upon as one of the most popular quiz show competitions. The success of TABC in College Bowl can be measured by the Junior Varsity’s Trip to Kushner Academy a few weeks ago. While there, JV College bowl Team came back with a perfect record of 4 wins and 0 losses defeating rivals long term rivals such as Frisch and Mayanot. Coach Manny Landau has noted that the vast and extensive knowledge coupled with extremely fast reaction time has made our Junior Varsity College Bowl Team one of the strongest yet. We are confident in their continued success.
Torah Bowl is another one of our dominant academic teams. Over the past couple of years, the Torah Bowl team has developed from an obscure team to one of TABC's most well known and successful. For two seasons in a row, TABC has posted the best record in its respective division amongst fierce competition, such as MTA and SAR. It was only two short seasons ago that TABC advanced all the way to the championship match! Unfortunately, however, in the final question the judge made a crucial mistake causing TABC to only take second place. Despite the devastating loss TABC bounced back and although not making the championships, posted, unsurprisingly, the most wins in the division. This year, the Torah Bowl team looks to once again display an impressive and hopefully championship-caliber year.
Another quiz type team in which TABC demonstrates superiority is History Bowl. It began only last year under the guidance of Dr. Katz, TABC's AP United States history teacher and college guidance officer. Yet, without much experience at all, the team has blossomed into a successful TABC activity. Last year, the History Bowl Team qualified for the National Championships in Washington D.C, with two individuals actually scoring high enough to individually compete. Moreover, this year, we have once again exceeded expectations with five individuals qualifying to individually compete in the National History Bee, which takes place in Washington D.C with high school students from across the country. The Varsity History Bowl team, which only competes together as a team, also qualified for the National History Bowl. Lastly, three more individuals also qualified for the newly implemented United States History Bee upon which individual answer questions based solely on United States history as opposed to World history. We hope to hear about much continued success in this newly formed activity which TABC students are taking major interest in.
Of all the TABC academic teams, Mock Trial is perhaps the most well known and successful. It is an activity in which students participate in a mock trial case and become either the plaintiff or the defendant in that particular case. Only two years ago, TABC nearly won the state of New Jersey and were just one victory away from competing in the National Championship. This year we expect to see the continuation and dominance regularly exhibited by these young lawyers and attorneys as they are eagerly preparing to launch a hugely successful 2014-2015 season. TABC faculty and students alike eagerly wait for the updates on TABC's progress.