One day from the Texas State Quiz Bowl Championship.

Two weeks from the National History Bowl.

One month from the High School National Championship Tournament, Quiz Bowl’s most prestigious competition.

Bellaire’s Quiz Bowl team has been preparing for scholastic success for two years. President and senior Kevin Li believes that they are ready.

“We’ve doubled our practices,” Li said. “I personally am very confident that our team can make the top 50.”

To fundraise for the three upcoming tournaments, Quiz Bowl Club hosts their annual Teachers vs. Students trivia game known as Cardinal Clash.

“It’s basically a fundraiser,” Vice President and senior Shreyas Sinha said. “But it’s also a really good way for us to spread Quiz Bowl to people who wouldn’t necessarily hear about it otherwise. That’s actually the way that I joined Quiz Bowl. In 10th grade, I went to a Cardinal Clash event for my chemistry class. Since then, I’ve been a stalwart member of this club.”

Quiz Bowl Club receives no funding from the school unlike almost every other team in America.

“The money goes towards tournaments because they get expensive,” Sinha said. “Usually, each tournament costs around 100 to $200 per team. Nationals tournaments specifically get really expensive. So we try to raise money so that all of our members can go whether or not their situations at home could support it.”

Expanding accessibility is one of Li’s biggest objectives, though this necessitates heavy fundraising.

Ever since last year, we’ve now had the ability to send two teams to Nationals, because of our expanded club size,” Li said. “That means we have to pay $1,200 every year now, so we really need the money.”

In particular, the team is excited about competing at History Bowl Nationals, a competition they have not attended for three years.

“We’re going to go to Washington DC and play [at] the history national championships,” Sinha said. “We’re gonna send a team of the biggest history nerds in the school and see if they’re any good at their jobs.”

But for junior and A team member Aris Barut, he’s focused on a different tournament: the National Quiz Bowl Championship, which represents a chance at redemption.

“Last year, we got 90th out of 300 teams or so,” Barut said. “That wasn’t very good. But this year we have a much more informed team, and I think that we have the capacity to make the top 20 with the lineup that we have [and] with the topic coverage.”

But knowing the material is only one-half of the reason why Sinha loves Quiz Bowl.

“I love the dopamine rush I get every time I get a question right,” Sinha said. “But secondly, I like the people a lot. It’s definitely helped me develop a lot of my closest friendships, and the experience of going to tournaments, living with people in a completely different city, it’s a really good way to honor the people around me, and I’m really thankful for it.

That tight-knit community is what Li emphasizes during the club’s recruitment process.

“Quiz Bowl is always looking for new members,” Li said.”If any of y’all are interested in trivia, be it casual or competitive, QB always has its door open for you.”