RONAN — It’s usually polite to let somebody finish asking a question before you interrupt with an answer, but for local seventh and eighth grade students two weeks ago, it was more of a necessity.

Some of the area’s brightest minds of tomorrow were on display on Wednesday, Jan. 11, when Polson, Ronan, Charlo and Mission middle schools met in Ronan for an intellectual battle, testing students’ knowledge in areas across the board. Geography, math, literature, sports, the list goes on, but regardless of the questions, these brainiacs were ready with the answers.

The Academic Quiz Bowl is a four-school, four-part competition in which students take an hour-and-a-half written exam prior to engaging in head-to-head oral quizzes. With each team equipped with buzzers, questions are asked and schools ring in to earn points.

After each team faces the others, scores are tabulated for the meet. After the four meets, the team with the most points is declared county champions.

The Jan. 11 meet was the season’s first and saw Polson take the early lead with 567 points, ahead of Ronan (472), Charlo (434) and Mission (362).

Ronan advisor Jessica Johnson said that the competition combines knowledge, competitiveness and sportsmanship into a fun test for the area’s middle school students.

“It’s about promoting academic skills, sportsmanship and respect,” Johnson said. “Even though they’re accumulating points against each other, lots of times, they get to know one another throughout the season. We try to keep it as a healthy challenge, but a challenge nonetheless.”

The quiz bowl, which kicked off with a mixer in St. Ignatius where kids had the opportunity to get to know their rivals from other schools, has been running for over 20 years. Johnson, in her second year as Ronan advisor and fourth year helping with the contest, noted that the students who participate put in time beyond class in order to make the team.

“We hold a minimum of one practice a week and try to hold two during competition weeks,” Johnson said. “Every time we have a competition, our kids test to see who will qualify. They take a test prior to every competition and the top placers compete.”

Each team consists of 10 students, broken into two teams of five for the oral rounds and all the kids participate, with the rules dictating that contestants may not compete in more than two oral rounds per tournament. Also, the same group of five can’t compete in back-to-back rounds, meaning the team must mix and match students.

Finding the 10 players isn’t as tough as it might seem, thanks to the nature of the game and word of mouth.

“Oftentimes, we put it out there as an opportunity and a lot of kids get started just dipping their toes into it,” Johnson said. “They figure out it’s fun, you get to compete and use a buzzer. We have a lot of our older kids recruit younger kids. Our seventh and eighth graders go out and try to get kids involved each year. We have sixth graders who can’t legally participate, but are our team managers. They go with us and help with the scorekeeping. They take the test and participate, but their score doesn’t count.”

After the four meets, in which each school hosts one apiece, the team with the most points is declared winner. Polson currently owns bragging rights after recently taking the crown from Charlo, but the Pirates have tough competition on their heels, as the three other schools are looking to be crowned champion. While the schools don’t have an official trophy they pass around, the winner does earn recognition.

“Traditionally, the students who have won the competition get the title of county champions for that season, but the schools do their own celebration,” Johnson said.

On deck for the whiz kids is a trip to Mission on Wednesday, Jan. 25 for the second round of competition. The students will be sure to do this, an interjection used to express strong feeling (as pleasure or surprise).

What is wow?