Seven of the eight-member Knowledge Bowl Team at AHS (Arlington High School) are Lakeland residents and together the team won the Championship this year in the long-running WREG academic competition. Five of the team members were also awarded $7,500 each.
They have recently been invited to NAQT (National Academic Quiz Tournaments) national finals in Atlanta.
The team is coached by Joel Wilhite at AHS and includes seven boys from Lakeland and one girl who lives in Arlington.
Link to the WREG program which has aired for 31+ seasons: https://wreg.com/on-air/knowledge-bowl/
Spokesman for the team, Spencer Dougan, said the team practices twice weekly. “It involves us running practice questions, dissecting the material, and learning everything in a specific subject,” said Spencer.
Team members from Lakeland
Spencer Dougan is a senior and will be attending Dartmouth in the fall. He plans to be a professor and is proud to be a top-5 player in Tennessee. He says, “I’ll miss Knowledge Bowl. God knows I’ve spent time and energy reading poetry and books. It’s probably been the biggest influencer of who I am today. My love of learning was 100 percent Knowledge Bowl.” Spencer is also deeply indebted to Mr. Wilhite, the KB sponsor, whom Spencer credits with his own deep love of history, literature, and art.
Keegan Fong is a senior and has been accepted at Vanderbilt. He is interested in a degree in engineering. He says, “You don’t know true pain until you’ve spent four hours straight watching the local news. Spencer and I would spend a good portion of the weekend before our WREG tournament competitions watching local news in preparation for the tapings. This meant watching three weeks’ worth of the same six commercials, repetitive updates about just how much California was on fire, and of course, the awkward small-talk transitions between segments. But hey, it seemed to help us, so I’m not complaining.”
Brennen Morrow is a junior and plans to attend Middle Tennessee State University.
Crew Allen is a junior and has not selected a college. He wants to study medicine with a specialty in cardiothoracic surgery.
Jack Lucci is a senior and plans to attend Texas A&M. He wants to be a doctor.
Joe Miller is a senior. He’s looking at Indiana University, Kentucky, and Missouri for college. He’s interested in business, but he’s not focused on a particular major at this time. He’s really enjoyed being part of the Knowledge Bowl team and says it’s been a great experience.
Grey Bingham is a junior and wants to become a psychiatrist.
The eighth member of the team is Lilly Shannon, a senior. She lives in Arlington, and is proud to be the only girl on the team. She plans to attend Columbia in the fall and wants to major in neuroscience.
To win the championship along with $7,500 in prize money, the AHS team beat CBHS, Collierville, Bartlett, Hernando and Oxford. Those awarded the $7,500 were Keegan, Spencer, Crew, Brennan and Lilly.
Spencer added, “Only three of us started as freshman interestingly. Joe and I started as sophomores, Jack and Lily as juniors. There is year-long competition, of which the TV tournament is only the most lucrative and visible.”
… Photos courtesy of Angie Dougan, parent
