I'll stop talking about quiz bowl soon, but for now...

I'm sure you're sick of hearing about quiz bowl by now. It's be the topic of most of my blogs recently, but today was *actual* quiz bowl day, so I figured it deserved one more day of attention.

I am really proud of what Sophie, Luke, Rob, Hannah, and I did today. We went to a tournament with 12 other teams. Some of our competitors were graduate students. Some of our competitors have been practicing all year.

But we held our own. We went 4 and 7, which, although it isn't a winning record is pretty dang good all things considered. I would argue we had more fun than any other team there. But most interesting of all: we had more women than men on our team. We walked into a room during the fifth round and the reader said, "It is so nice to see a team that is not comprised completely of men."

We had a team made up of 3 women and 2 men. If we hadn't gone to the tournament, there would have only been 3 total women there. There were over 40 people there who we competed against, and only 3 of them were women. I can't quite fathom the fact that Hannah, Sophie, and I made up 50% of the women there.

I am proud of our quiz bowl team. We might not get power every time or ace every bonus. We might make a few too many inappropriate jokes. But, in Sophie's words, "if anything, we [Sophie and Hannah] created a club where women aren't afraid to be smart and show it."

I am proud to be part of a club that is doing good things. I'm proud we make Augustana a better place. In the grand scheme of things, I am not involved in all too many things on campus. I am on the quiz bowl team, the Edda staff, the Writing Center staff, and have attended a couple Augie FEM events this year.

And in each of those places I feel as if I am making a difference for the better. These clubs and places of employment make Augustana better. And, while I think Augie does many wonderful, wonderful things, I think it could do a better job of acknowledging when students make campus a better place.

Sophie and Hannah, as sophomores, built an organization that competes with schools who qualify for quiz bowl nationals.

Over the past few years our Edda staff has consistently won awards in competitions with schools across the country.

The Writing Center staff and director strive day in and day out to make the WC a place where each and every student on campus can come and feel welcome and encouraged.

Augie FEM stands for equality for everybody and has does wonderful events like a period product drive for women on Reservations who otherwise often have to skip school or work during their period.

These are some pretty cool things to be a part of. And while recognition for these things is not the goal, appreciation--like that which athletes and science majors and donors constantly receive from the administration--would be nice. I love Augustana, I just think it can do better at honoring its liberal arts core value.

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