Knowledge Bowl team wins two, loses four in Big Easy

The Odessa High School Knowledge Bowl team has reported in from New Orleans that they ended the competition with a record of two wins and four losses. All the schools Odessa competed against had a high school enrollment of more than 500 and included both public and private schools.

Their first match on Saturday was against Bayside, Tenn., where Odessa won by a score of 260-210. The next match was against North Babylon High of Long Island, New York, where the Odessa squad came up short.

On Sunday, the team’s third match was a forfeit (win) from Wingfield, Miss. The next three losses came from schools from Hannibal, Mo., a Jesuit School from New Orleans (with a student body of over 1300) and Gadsen, Alabama (with an enrollment of over 1600 – a 6A school).

Odessa;s team did an awesome job. We were definitely the smallest school and also one of the farthest-traveled schools in attendance. The other long-distance travelers were from the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Between matches, the team did tours of the Garden District, Legends and Ghosts, the Mississippi River, The Riverwalk Mall, the French Quarter, The French Market and, of course, took advantage of some New Orleans cuisine, including jambalaya, PoBoys, crawfish etouffe, and, of course. the famous beignets from Café DuMonde. Team members were using the public transportation of the infamous street cars.

The team is continuing fundraising efforts to help pay for the cost of this tournament by taking orders for berries. (See...due by June 6).