Ever wonder about Alden’s students successes outside of school? Alden High School senior Emily Beisiegel is a great example of students achieving on their own. From November 6th to 8th, she will be at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center in Louisville, Kentucky, competing in the Eastern National 4-H Horse Roundup’s National Horse Bowl Competition.

Horse Bowl is an intense contest that challenges both wits and reaction time. In a quiz bowl format, competitors must answer incredibly in-depth and oftentimes scientific questions about the horse, including anatomy, care, behavior, showing, and many other widely varied topics. This competition requires intense studying beforehand and incredible amounts of concentration and focus while it is going on. As a competitor in the senior level, Emily must know the answers to the most advanced questions in the competition.

Horse Bowl consists of multiple teams of 4 members, with each session made up of two teams competing at once. They are set up in opposite tables. The teams are arranged in “chairs”, as in, the first person at the table is first chair and will compete against the other first chair. There are two rounds of 40 questions, the first round of which are considered “one-on-one”,  in which each chair will compete against the other team’s chair through the four chairs. The second round is called “toss-up”, as any member of any team can answer the question. If the question is answered incorrectly, it goes to someone on the other team. Points are gained for each correct question, and two points are awarded for each bonus question (which are attached to three random questions). A team can also gain an extra two points if each team member has correctly answered a question. A point will also be deducted for each question answered incorrectly.  Each member who rings in has 5 seconds to start answering and has ten seconds to finish answering.

Making it to the national competition is an impressive feat. Emily has made it there by placing in at least the top 10 competitors in the local, regional, and state competitions. Her preparation involves studying questions used in past competitions and memorizing vocabulary. She also said she is nervous for the competition, because she isn’t sure about who she’s going up against. North Carolina and Ohio’s state teams historically have offered intense competition. She is also looking forward to exploring Louisville, Kentucky, and seeing the Livestock Exposition going on at the same time. Good luck Emily and congratulations on representing New York and Alden at this nation-wide competition!

UPDATE: The New York State team placed 4th in the nation and Emily placed in the Top 20 in individual competition!