Remson’s Rainbow Quartet narrowly wins Corporate Bowl

by Donna M. Webb
Grand Island Dispatch, March 24, 2006

First-place winners Remson’s Rainbow Quartet enjoy their Corporate Bowl victory on Tuesday night. Team members are Vince Covatto, Alex Davis, Shannon Farmer and Noah Yanicki. (photos by Barbi Lare)

The championship round of the Grand Island Corporate Bowl on March 21 was a real nail-biter for both participants and spectators.

When the final scores were announced, the team called Remson’s Rainbow Quartet beat Team BACA by only five points (185 to 180) to win the coveted first-place award of $4,000 in scholarship money. Team BACA, as second-place winners, earned $2,000, and the third-place award of $1,000 went to Team Snodgrass. The four students on each team will equally share in their respective awards.

The moderator for the evening was high school teacher Michael Grosso. “Many tireless hours and much effort” have gone into the making of this year’s Corporate Bowl, Grosso told the audience.

•Members of the first-place Remson’s Rainbow Quartet are: Vince Covatto, Alex Davis, Shannon Farmer and Noah Yanicki.

•Second-place Team BACA consists of Patrick Sexton, Matthew Huber, Amanda Jaeger and Robert Potter.

•Third-place Team Snodgrass is comprised of Forrest Smith, Sarah Mye, Traci Aladeen and Cassie Lange.

The night’s finals competition began with seven teams. Some questions were easy; many were tough. Here is a sampling of some of the questions: (Answers are at the end of article.)

•The use of a word whose sound suggests its meaning is called?

•Who is the commoner who ruled England from 1658-1659?

•What famous university in Paris did Marie Curie study at?

•Multiply: 207 x 16.

•The Galapagos Islands are owned by what country?

•What does DSL stand for?

Second-place winners, team BACA, accept their Corporate Bowl award. They are Patrick Sexton, Matthew Huber, Amanda Jaeger and Robert Potter.

After Team Snodgrass learned they had earned third place, tension mounted among the remaining two teams. When the moderator announced that Team BACA had come in second, the members of Remson’s Rainbow Quartet reacted with shock, realizing they had won the $4,000 first-place prize. “We thought we were in third (place),” said Vince Covatto. “We were like – What?”

Judges for the competition were teachers Amy Kessel and Loretta Condino-Grupp.

During the intermission, framed certificates of appreciation from the Grand Island School and Business Alliance were presented to the 2006 Corporate Bowl Platinum and Gold sponsors. Niagara Frontier Publications is one of the Gold Sponsors. Also, two special awards were given out. One was presented to Kelli Tanzella from Invitrogen for her work as the 2006 Corporate Bowl chairperson. The second award was given to Superintendent Dr. Thomas Ramming, who will be retiring, to thank him for all his support of GISBA-sponsored events. These include Shadow Day, Corporate Bowl and a Job Search Day. During the intermission, the winners of the basket raffle were also picked.

Remson’s Rainbow Quartet, Team BACA, and Team Snodgrass received their large mock checks from Grosso, Ramming, and James Sharpe (who was responsible for the Corporate Bowl program). There were smiles all around.

“What a match! What a match!” said High school Principal Dr. James Dempsey. He asked the audience to give a round of applause for the winning teams.

“Congratulations to all of the participants. To everyone, thank you very much. We will look forward to seeing you at Corporate Bowl 2007,” Dempsey said

Answers to the above questions:

•Onomatopoeia

•Richard Cromwell

•The Sorbonne

•3,312

•Ecuador

•Digital Subscriber Line