The School of Education (SOE) dominated the competition by a wide margin and they were hailed as champions for this year’s Utakan: Quiz Bowl which was held last Friday afternoon at the Martin Hall.

The theme for this year’s event was: “Taking the Meaning of Fun to Greater Heights: A Way of Celebrating Excellence.” Contestants and judges alike wore costumes which were inspired by the characters from the popular book and movie series: The Hunger Games.

It was a tight contest at the end of the easy round as five out of the nine divisions who participated in the quiz bowl were tied at 14 points apiece.

But then in the average round, SOE began to take command in the competition as they correctly answered 11 out of the 15 questions and scored 55 points. While the Humanities and Letters Division (HumLet) and the School of Nursing (SON) were not far behind as they scored 40 points at the end of the average round after correctly answering eight out of the 15 questions each.

The momentum continued for SOE as they scored another 30 points in the difficult round to give them a grand total of 99 points and eventually declared as the over-all champions. While the Natural Science and Mathematics Division (NSM) scored 50 points in the difficult round, after scoring 10 points in the easy round and 30 points in the average round, to give them 90 points and a second place finish.

But there were two divisions who were tied at third place, HumLet and SON, after each scoring 84 points at the end of three rounds. So both divisions went to the tie-breaker round and eventually SON won after they first answered the question correctly to gain third place.

One of the members of the School of Education who joined the competition, AC Consencino, a first year student, shared his experience after winning the Quiz Bowl.

“Actually, it is much unexpected because it is my first time since I am a first year student. And then, it is very heartwarming because in the previous year, they got third place. So, we were very shocked when they announced that we won first place,” he said.

Here are the final standings for this year’s Utakan: Quiz Bowl.

Champion: School of Education

Second place: Natural Science and Mathematics

Third place: School of Nursing

Fourth place: Humanities and Letters

Fifth place: Computer Studies

Sixth place: Social Sciences

Seventh place: Accountancy

Eighth place: School of Engineering and Architecture

Ninth place: Business and Management