From my experience attending middle school at RIS, I would say my favorite school event is Knowledge Bowl. This event usually takes place on the last day of the first semester before winter break(also a half day), and is a competitive event between house teams made up of three advisories; one each from the three grades in middle school. Students wear their house team colors and earn points from different events such as Games Day and dress up days throughout the year to compete for fun, and this is one of them. Currently, we have five house teams; the Pink Elephants, Emerald Cobras, Golden Gibbons, Hornbills, and Titanium Tigers.
Knowledge Bowl is made up of different activities and quizzes such as Jeopardy, Name that Song, and Name that Teacher. Jeopardy is made up of topics that students learn in classes at school, for instance, Spanish, Mandarin, Culinary, and PE. The students get to decide in their advisories beforehand which activities they want to participate in, which means that they can choose their area of expertise! For each quiz, the participating students made up of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders gather around a buzzer for each house team on the stage and the first team to press the buzzer gets to answer first, similar to how a quiz show would be run. The rest of the students would be in their seats cheering on their house teams! In between these quizzes, there are additional activities that vary each year, but have included games like popping balloons and eating a donut without hands as fast as you can. Since this event is on the last day of school before winter break, it also serves as a celebration for Christmas and the upcoming New Year, and some teachers even dress up to celebrate it! After the event, students hang out with their friends and enjoy the food that they have brought to share with the school(known as a potluck), and some students have done performances as well.
Written by: Jia Lee
— Writer Jia Lee can be reached at jial26@rism.ac.th.
Edited by: Rie Aiyama
— Editor Rie Aiyama can be reached at riai23@patana.ac.th.
Follow her on Instagram @rieaiyama
