With a tournament-filled semester ahead, Ladue Quizbowl is preparing to finish what is going  to be one of their best seasons on record. Led by seniors Raj Paul, Akshay Govindan, and Moses Schindler, the team has been extremely successful in the last few years.

After placing second at Washington University’s Fall Academic Tournament in November, the Quizbowl A team are focusing on the future. Govindan, along with his peers, keeps constant watch of their schedule.

“We’ll be attending another tournament at Washington University called WUHSAC in mid February, which draws teams from across the country, as well as state-wide and MSHSAA tournaments in March. We’ll also be going to both major national tournaments in late spring, and are eager to compete there.”

As a result of these seniors’ leadership, the program has excelled at both the state and national level. Paul, who worked his way to the A team as a sophomore, has been instrumental to the prosperity of the team.

“In terms of performance, we’ve got some pretty cool accolades: this past year, we capped off an undefeated season among Missouri teams with a first place at the state championship, and went on to place 15th in the nation at PACE. Two years ago, our A team won the JV national championship at PACE NSC.”

More important than their outstanding tournament results is the camaraderie and friendship that has developed from constant competition. The seniors have also collaborated continuously, working to develop a question set for Ladue’s very own tournament. Schindler worked non-stop with other Quizbowl members to ensure ‘LIST’ would be a success.

“Two years ago our club wrote the entire 600+ question set for LIST. It was extremely time-consuming, so last year and this year we decided to instead collaborate with other high schools to make a set. Lots of tournaments from across the country will use the set and hopefully give us feedback which we can use to improve it before other teams play it.”

LIST (referred to formally as Ladue Invitational Spring Tournament) was adopted by the current A team after several years of hiatus. The tournament is March 30th, the eighth time that Ladue has hosted it, and will be staffed by Ladue Quizbowl members. However, with the current seniors set to graduate, the club will need administrative guidance from other students.

“We hope that some of the current upper and underclassmen rise up to take over some of the leadership roles that will be vacant once me, Raj, and Akshay graduate,” Schindler said. “We hope that those who aren’t graduating will continue to study hard and perform well.”

In any form, Quizbowl will be sure to improve due to the hard work put in by the A team. Although they are leaving soon, these seniors already have certainly left their mark on Ladue’s Quizbowl program. Raj Paul is optimistic about the future.

“In the coming years, I hope that our program continues the level of activity we’ve had in recent years, or even better, grows. It would be amazing to see more Ladue students fall in love with the game and involve themselves.”