Credit: Meredith Peruzzi
College Bowl was held Thurs, July 8th in the Marriot Hotel, official hotel of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) conference in Philadelphia, PA.
Three teams represented three prominent deaf university programs: California State University, Northridge (CSUN) in Northridge, CA, Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, and the National Technical Institute of the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology (NTID/RIT).
Of the contestants and the coaches, JDCC News identified those who are Jewish, defining those who are Jewish as having a mother who is Jewish:
CSUN – Emily Schwartz (father is Jewish) and Joshua Soudakoff, contestants, Robert Sidansky, Coach and Barbara Boyd, Assistant Coach.
Gallaudet – Allison Weiner (father is Jewish) and Meredith Peruzzi contestants, and Coach Robert B. Weinstock.
The following is a blog on the College Bowl Finals that posted to the NAD Conference blog on Fri, 07/09/2010 – 09:16. Thanks to blogger Jeannette Johnson.
THE COLLEGE BOWL FINALS
The College Bowl was held last night in the Grand Ballroom with a full house erupting in wild cheers every time their team got answers correctly. The teams were:
* Gallaudet – Meredith Peruzzi, Gabriel Paulone, David Uzzell, Allison Weiner, and Colin Whited
* NTID – Gianni Manganelli, Colin Pearson, Hannah Worek, Jordan Burgener and Cory Behm
* CSUN – Darren Hause, Brandon Marin, Joshua Soudakoff, and Emily Schwartz
The rules were in the first round, if you got an answer correctly, you got one point. If you accepted a challenge, you would get 2 points for a correct answer, but if you got it wrong, you would lose 2 points. In the second, you would win 3 points, and with the challenge, win or lose 6 points and in the third, the stakes were raised even higher with 5 points, and 10 points for the challenge.
In the very beginning of the first round, all three teams were getting the answers correctly, and then by question 12, NTID and Gallaudet started pulling ahead of CSUN, jumping ahead with scores of 12 and 13 points respectively, with CSUN having 8 points. NTID’s strength was clearly in Mathematics, and Gallaudet’s was in Deaf Culture and Heritage. Audience members discussed excitedly behind their chairs with each other to guess the right answer. At the end of the first round NTID had 18 points, Gallaudet 19 points, and CSUN 12 points.
During the intermission, supporters of each team rallied, wildly cheering on their teams. The sponsors of the College Bowl Finals, ZVRS showed a video commercial. Then the second round began. That’s when things got even more energetic! People jumped up and roared every time their team got an answer correctly. Much to everyone’s amazement, NTID lost a Mathematic challenge, thereby losing 6 points. At the end of the second round, Gallaudet was leading with 58 points, NTID with 36, and CSUN 24 points.
In the third round, NTID swung back at Gallaudet, almost immediately accepting two challenges and winning. NTID supporters nearly blew the roof off with their wild cheering as NTID jumped 8 points ahead of Gallaudet. CSUN valiantly fought to catch up, and they did a great job, but the main fight was between Gallaudet and NTID, often accepting challenges, both winning and losing them. At the end, Gallaudet won the College bowl with 93 points, and NTID right behind them with 91 points! CSUN came in third with 44 points.
As a thank you to their coach, Robert Weinstock, the Gallaudet team doused him with water and Nancy J. Bloch, the NAD CEO, proudly presented the trophy to the Gallaudet team for the fourth time in a row! Congratulations to the Gallaudet team, and both CSUN and NTID did an outstanding job. The teams made the event thrilling and energetic to watch!
Sources:
www.nad.org/blogs/jeannette-johnson/college-bowl-finals
www.nad.org/events/biennial-conference/college-bowl-team-players-and-coaches
