Graduate Athletic Training students from Heidelberg University attended the Ohio Athletic Trainers Association (OATA) Conference on Nov. 18 – and won the Quiz Bowl while there!
The team involves three Master’s of Athletic Training students – Madi Sharp, Alyssa Potteiger-Stewart and Halie Monhollen. Jena Suffel, Clinical Education Coordinator and Assistant Professor of Athletic Training and Health Science, helped the women study and ran through previous years’ questions with them to prepare for the contest.
“I’m very proud of how they competed,” Jena said, “Heidelberg has never won before, so it is cool to finally come home with a win.”
The OATA Quiz Bowl was a jeopardy-style kahoot game, which awards points on accuracy as well as speed. Although lagging in points, the Heidelberg team risked it all on the final “jeopardy” question: “For how many minutes would the AED be most beneficial from the onset of sudden cardiac arrest?” After debating about their answer, the women went with their initial gut instinct, and were the only team to answer the question correctly. (It’s most beneficial at 5 minutes!)
“The best part about OATA was coming back from being in last place in the competition and winning,” Halie shared. “We decided to water all of our points because we had nothing to lose … and it worked!”
“When they announced that we had won, our faces dropped in shock,” Alyssa said. “You could hear the excitement coming from Jena in the back of the room as she stood up and started cheering us on!”
After this victory, the Heidelberg team moves on to the Great Lakes Athletic Trainers Association (GLATA) Annual Meeting and Symposium, where they will compete in the Quiz Bowl this spring. “I’m super excited for GLATA,” Madi said, adding, “It will be great to experience a conference before being certified.” The Meeting, Symposium (and Quiz Bowl regional competition) will be held March 13-16, 2024 in Wheeling, Illinois. The team will represent not only Heidelberg, but the whole state of Ohio as they compete against the state winners from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.
We wish them luck as they spend their time studying for finals now, and are excited to check in with them again in the spring.