The Mycenaean

Students are eager to show off their their intellect among their friends. The Brain Game gives an on-camera opportunity to show it off.

So why would students want to join the Brain Team at Leesville?

“If you’re strong at one topic, it’s great for the team,” Maggie Zargo.

“Even if you don’t consider yourself an academic, but say you follow celebrities, there’s a category for that,” said Schneider. “If you don’t feel comfortable in front of camera, you can help us with research.”

Gutierrez said, “We would love up to 9-12 people, so we can have teams with different combinations, to get in depth.”

Lucas Taylor, junior, said, “They’re surprisingly simple problems, only a few trig questions.”

The contest has changed to attract more students to participate. There is a new rule allowing one sub for each game.

Maggie Zargo, senior, said, “It’s a group of people who work together to study for questions from nine different categories.”

Some students compare this competition to a quiz bowl. The judges, from WRAL, will ask anything from entertainment to legislative bills. Math and science trivia questions are most frequent.

Dorothy Schneider, senior, described the competition, “There’s literature and globe trotting; there are set topics; arts and literature, headliners, and they ask questions about countries, the only topic that we’re given a head notice, that way, we know which countries to study for.”

“Currently there are five students on the team; we have 4 seniors, and I am the only junior,” said Schneider.
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In recent years, the Brain Game team has experienced a shortage of underclassmen. Schneider said, “That’s been a problem for a while. Me and Maggie [Zargo] were the only non-juniors on the team, everyone graduated.” They all agree that a younger base of students is needed on the team.

“With Maggie, she hasn’t been on TV, but we can’t be a team without her; she does all of the research for us,” said Schneider. Zargo coined herself as “the team captain of morale.”

The members reflect upon the challenges they face.

Schneider said, “The biggest difficulty is focus because we’re diverse [with knowledge] and smart so its very important to go back and study every topic.”

Students are encouraged to attend the Brain Game study sessions in room 238. Study sessions are held every friday. The shortage of students is easily correctable; it just takes the effort of spreading the word. Leesville students needs to show their vast reserve of knowledge.