Nicholls State University Quiz Bowl team, under the direction of Paul Wilson, coordinator of the University honors program, placed second at the State Honors Conference held at Grambling State University. The Louisiana Collegiate Honors Council took place Feb. 16-17 with the quiz bowl competition being held from 7-9:25 a.m. Saturday morning.

This competition consisting of more than just a quiz bowl competition also has competitions for student presentations on various topics.

“We had two students who were planning presentations. They had to back out because they could not make the trip, but we will have students participate next year when the competition is in Lafayette,” Wilson said.

Last year, the quiz bowl team placed first in this competition, and this year the team was under captain James Irwin, who was a member of last year’s winning team.

The other five members of this year’s team are Kerry Blanchard, Amanda Lyons, Julie Poole, Jeffery Rodriguez and Michael Cobb.

“We had a tryout for the team to see who was interested, and to see who would be the best,” Wilson said.

There are three main students who are on the team, and the other three members are rotated in so everyone gets an opportunity to play, Wilson said.

” This is only the second year for our honors program, so the team has only competed in two competitions, last year and this year,” he said.

With regards to this year’s competition, the team received a bye for the first round because of it’s victory last year.

The team then went on to beat Grambling in the second round, and ended up falling short to UNO on the last question in the third round, Wilson said.

Wilson also said that as adviser to the team, he has been elected as a faculty representative for the Louisiana Collegiate Honors Council Executive Committee for the past two years.