Hoover High School Scholars Bowl Team continues successful stride
Fresh after leading the Hoover High School’s Scholars Bowl Team to another state championship, its director has won a national award.
Joshua Rutsky, longtime coach of the reigning state champs, was recently named the 2015 “Benjamin Cooper Academic Ambassador” by the national quiz bowl organization Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence, or P.A.C.E.
“I was delighted and surprised,” Rutsky said. “However, it’s entirely about the opportunities and the support that I have received from the administration here at Hoover High School and in our community.”
The Benjamin Cooper Academic Ambassador Award recognizes those “...who have made substantial contributions to the spirit and honor of quizbowl competition,” according to P.A.C.E. It’s just the latest in a long line of recognitions for Rutsky and his program. The AP English teacher has been in education 19 years, including 17 at Hoover High School.
When not teaching in the classroom, Rutsky lives and breathes the scholars bowl culture, or “quizbowl” as it’s known by participants across the country. His classroom is filled with quiz buzzers and eager, capable student competitors.
Rutsky’s demonstrated his commitment to Hoover High’s scholars bowl team even more by obtaining a commercial driver’s license (CDL), allowing him to bypass the often tricky process of lining up available bus drivers on weekends.
“In Hoover, we expect to be the best; that is what this community deserves,” Rutsky said. “This is a sport. It’s got a summer camp, it’s got leagues. It’s got all that. But this is a sport for the mind.”
Rutsky’s work - coupled with administrative/community support - have enabled the Hoover High School Scholars Bowl program to flourish. Its trophy case is almost full - and includes a first place trophy from this year’s Alabama Scholastic Competition Association Tournament. Hoover’s other high school, Spain Park, also had an incredible showing, finishing second in the same tournament.
Rutsky said Alabama was the only state to earn an “A” from national “quizbowl” leaders in a recent poll, citing the state’s league recruiting measures, fair tournament structures/questions and multiple, quality tournament sites.
“The leaders in this game know where we are, they know who we are,” Rutsky said. “Alabama isn’t a joke to them. I really want people nationally to know how incredibly talented our students are,” Rutsky said.
Talented and knowledgeable are adjectives Rutsky uses frequently to describe his student competitors. They have to possess a love of knowledge...and flexible schedules. Some of Rutsky’s team members just returned from a Chicago tournament and scholars bowl summer camp begins in just a few weeks. Rutsky said students wanting to join scholars bowl never get turned away because of need.
“This game is for the kid that has the spark for the yearning for learning. The kid who says, 'I want to know it, I want to know something about everything,'” Rutsky said. “We are a family. We will take a freshman that has never done this before and work with them until they get where they need to be. We want everyone to buy into the fact that being knowledgeable matters.”