The rabbit quiz bowl team from Union County will be honored tonight at the Ohio State Fair. The team took first place in the state. Team members include, from left, Sariah Bates, Shelby Jones, Zach Schmidt, Zoe Schmidt and Brogan Green.
(Photo submitted)
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Later today a group of Union County 4-Hers are being honored at the Ohio State Fair.
The Union County Rabbit Quiz Bowl team took first place in the state competition last month at Ohio State University.
The team was made up of Zoe Schmidt and Zach Schmidt of the Plain City Country Kids 4-H club, Sariah Bates of Blue Ribbon Bandits, Brogan Green of Hare Raisers and captained by Shelby Jones of the Kind Hearted 4-H club.
“This was the first year to have a team and we had kids we knew that had shown interest, and they were excited and wanted to do it,” said Rachel Jones, a team advisor with Mary Schmidt.
The quiz bowl was a tournament style, team v. team, knowledge-based completion.
“They could be any questions about rabbits, really anything,” said Shelby Jones. “There are some really random questions so you need to know really about everything.”
Rachel Jones said the team took a trip to OSU to learn more about the event.
“That helped a lot, I think, because it took their jitters away,” Rachel Jones said.
Shelby Jones explained that before the competition each team was required to develop 30 questions from a list of approved resources.
Rachel Jones said team members were each asked to develop 20 questions, focusing on an area or resource specifically assigned to them.
“That helped us really,” Shelby said. “We wanted to come up with hard questions so we really dug into the resources and that helped us learn them better ourselves.”
The leaders explained the team had a couple study sessions, but for the most part, members were asked to study on their own.
Something worked, because while the event was double elimination, the Union County squad was undefeated in the tournament. The final match against Hardin County did go to a bonus round.
Rachel Jones said the team worked well and because every member contributed, the team was able to collect additional points.
“For us, that was a big deal because it showed us we were a team,” Rachel Jones said.
She added it was a “really a neat thing” that members of four different 4-H clubs were able to come together to represent the county.
“They got along well. They encouraged each other. They had fun together,” Rachel Jones said. “They were just a fantastic group to work with.”
While the individuals helped the team, the members said the team helped them as well. Each team member finished first or second in their showmanship class at the Union County Fair and Zoe Schmidt was named the fair’s Premier Exhibitor.
“We all just felt better for showmanship because we had a better knowledge from studying,” Zoe Schmidt said, explaining that much of the individual showmanship competition is knowledge based.
Rachel Jones said the rabbit judge at last year’s Union County Fair planted the idea for a quiz team.
“He just said we had a lot of knowledge in the county and encouraged them,” she said.
While the county had a single team this year, it could have as many as four — two junior level and two senior level.
“Union County is really competitive for showmanship,” Zoe Schmidt said. “We have a lot of kids in the county that could do well.”
Zoe Schmidt, who is only 12, could have participated on a junior team, but since there wasn’t one local, she was part of the senior level competition.
“We are hoping to get more people involved,” she said of next year.
Those wanting to be involved in next year’s rabbit quiz bowl competition are asked to contact their 4-H advisor or the 4-H office at the Union County Extension Office of the Ohio State University at (937) 644-8117.