First Post+BRITE News

Ok, I got a new computer today, and I'm creating this blog from it.

Before I get started, you people should know that I am the one and only Neil A. Sen, and I am a member of the JP Stevens High School quiz team, aka the STARS.

Right now, we have two teams taking part in BRITE, or the Bridgewater-Raritan Invitational Tournament of Excellence. We have gotten through Rounds 2 and 3 and will take part in 1 this coming Tuesday, which is incidentally my birthday. The reason 1 is last is because the start of this tournament was delayed twice due to the kind of heavy amount of snow that was coming down those days.

Anyway, things have been going well so far. JPS Team 1 (made up of me, David Zhao, Alex Silady, Andy Zhu, Kunal Bailoor, and Jessica Cui) is currently the #1 team! We actually faced 2 of Sayreville's 3 teams. The first team was a bit of a breeze to beat; that was the game in which we scored the points that really boosted us up to the #1 spot. The other Sayreville team, however, actually was pretty good. That round started with us winning the first game with a wide margin, then winning the second with a smaller margin, then actually losing the third by a 10 point one. The good news is that overall we managed to gain 1180 points over their 720, and we're still maintaining our spot with that added to the 1480 from the first round we played.

The other team does not appear to be faring so well. Although they managed to win both games they played (they too were facing Sayreville teams), their point totals really were not terribly impressive with about 800 the first and 1080 the second. I suspect the reason is because that team is half-full of underclassmen that, from what I hear from the older players, generally just get in the way. We need 4 players to constitute a panel, and we can have 2 alternates. The thing is that they have to let everyone play at least once in each game. More often than not, those underclassmen do not appear to know the answer to any question, leaving it to the one junior and two seniors they have to figure it out.

This leads me to my next point: I am actually pretty worried about the future of our team, particularly after the Class of 2010 graduates. The underclassmen we are getting in order to replace the guys that graduate seem to be mostly jerks that are there just so they can get Mrs. Vitvitsky's signature on their activity sheets when the time comes for them to submit college applications. More evidence for this theory of mine came on the first day of BRITE. One of those underclassmen I mentioned appeared to be well enough to take the American Math Competition test that was that day (I was there and I saw her), yet she was apparently not well enough to come with us to Bridgewater. That's the typical thinking of a more pragmatic high schooler: screw your teammates, it's your college admission that ultimately counts.

I know I place an abnormal amount of importance on a quiz team, yet as a person who was not even on that team, I felt just a tad bit ticked off at what I still see as an abandonment of her team. I still wonder what our two advisors feel about this.

Anyway, I am looking forward to my 18th birthday this Tuesday and our triumph in BRITE that same day. Furthermore, we are going back on the NJ Challenge the following Monday, March 2nd! Peace out.