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Inside the Corporate Bowl: Nerd Herd stampedes to win by Alex
Richter
The Grand Island Corporate Bowl hosted its semifinals and championship rounds this past Tuesday night. Having won our preliminary round the week before, our team, The Nerd Herd, was guaranteed a spot in the semifinal round. The night was great. Our team arrived at the school at about 6:30 p.m. where we had some extra time to speak with the members of the other teams who had won their rounds. Every team member who made it this far was very enthusiastic about the game, but also enthusiastic for the other teams who had made it this far. I don’t think that there was one harsh word about another team. Everybody was so supportive of one another. As the teams traveled around, talking to the other teams and wishing them the best of luck, we all began to realize that just making it to the semi-final round was winning. Everybody was having fun, and that was all that mattered. The scholarships were an added bonus. The games soon began, and we were all interested in who would win each round. What was more exciting was seeing the order that the teams came in, as well as how close each match was. It was incredible how just a few missed questions or early ring-ins could affect the outcome of the game. Our team, consisting of Julia Figliotti, Amanda Jaeger and Luke Burkhart, was in the last semi-final round, so we were again able to watch the other teams compete in their games. Our semi-final round was tough for us. Every team that we competed against consisted of our friends and nobody wanted the other teams to lose, but we all sincerely wished each other good luck as we prepared for a very difficult game. At the beginning, our team had made a few mistakes. By the end of the first round, we were at –10 points while the other teams were much farther ahead. We were somewhat disappointed, but we knew that anything could happen. Thankfully, by the end of the second round (the individual questions), the game was very close. We were still a bit behind the leading team, but victory was now within reach for anybody. At this point we really had to concentrate and play to our strengths. Julia was quick on the buzzer, and all four of us played as a team and conferred for each answer. The teamwork was the most important part. At the end of the game, I looked around. I could see that everybody on every team was a bit worried. The points were incredibly close and none of us knew who pulled ahead. It was finally announced that we had won by just a few points. We were ecstatic. That meant the championship round and a guaranteed $1,000 for our team. The championship round was played out the same way. We were against teams of our friends, but we all knew that no one was walking away empty handed anymore. The questions went by and each team got a few of them, and by the end of the game, we knew it was close again. I couldn’t wait to hear the results (which seemed to never come). But we waited. Then, our moderator pulled the other two teams aside to talk to them. Our team was sitting there trying to figure out why. This action caused more worry, because we were not included. We had no idea what was happening at first. Finally, we received the results stating that there was a tie for second, and the two teams that had tied had to decide whether to play another round to see who would get second and third, or to split the money. They decided to split the $3,000 in scholarships. But, upon hearing this, we began to smile. We had won the top prize of $4,000. It was a great time, and winning first place topped it all off. We were great friends, we worked hard together, and we had a great time. It was incredible. This experience is one that I will never forget. Great job H20-NO and The Jackson Four for an outstanding job in this year’s Corporate Bowl, and great job Nerd Herd! Thanks goes out to the families, friends, GISBA and Grand Island High School. Can’t wait for next year’s competition!
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