“What is the outline of a shadow called?”

“Who invented the cheese grater?”

“What is the name for an animal that exclusively eats fish?”

These are just a sample of questions posed to the Tyrone Golden Eagle Quiz Team this fall as they competed against area schools in this annual scholastic battle of wits.

The Bedford / Blair Scholastic Quiz League began in 2006 and is sponsored by Appalachia Intermediate Unit 8. All public and non-public high schools in the two county region are eligible to field teams of up to seven students.  The competitions occur each fall at the IU8 headquarters in Altoona.

Members of the 2015 team were Adam Zook, Anthony Politza, Gina Gavazzi, Kendra Walker, Sean McGovern, Mary Beth Raabe, Haley Butina, Chloe Makdad and Michael Lewis.

“Competing and doing well at Quiz League attacks the stigma that Tyrone is just a school for athletics,” said Head Coach and TAHS chemistry teacher Mike Funicelli, ” We compete against other area schools and show them that our scholastic prowess is up to par as well.”

Ina quiz league competition teams of four face off against each other with buzzers in hand. Ten toss up questions are asked first, meaning that any member of either team can answer the question. Both teams are then given one minute individually to answer six questions in sixty seconds. There is a brief halftime and then the process repeats itself with the winning team being the one with the most points after two rounds.

The Golden Eagle Quiz Team finished 4-9 for the season and was unable to advance beyond the regional level.

“Despite the absurdity of some of the questions, the teammates and experience make Quiz League pretty worth while,” said senior Captain Anthony Politza, a three year veteran of the Golden Eagle Quiz Team.

“Some of the questions were so ridiculous it was fun to make up answers,” said senior Kendra Walker.

Teams that make it beyond the initial rounds can find themselves competing against the best quiz teams in the state at the state quiz league championship in Harrisburg.  Tyrone didn’t make it that far but the participants would not trade the educational experience for anything.

And in case you were wondering, the answers are silhouette, François Boullier, and pescetarian.

Certainly, the fate of Trivial Pursuit will never be in Jeopardy!