J.P. Stevens

J.P. Stevens High School
Location: Edison, NJ
Club Presidents	Joseph George, Allen Wang
Coaches	Karan Menon, Jeff Xie
National Championships	24th place, 2019 NHBB
Program Status	Active
School Size	2500
NAQT Page	link

The J. P. Stevens quiz bowl team (formerly known as the STARS) is a team that competes at the regional, state, and national level. It has made Top 16 3 times in a row in the Bridgewater-Raritan Invitational Tournament of Excellence (BRITE) and was a quarterfinalist in 2007. It has also qualified for nationals twice, in 2012 and 2019, and been nationally ranked in 2020. It has enjoyed a fair amount of success, although it has been only been active in spurts.

History

The Rutgers Academic Challenge Years

The team was originally known as the Rutgers Academic Challenge team.

The STARS Years

At around the end of the 2006 academic school year, the JPS team was named STARS. The team name stands for "Stevens' Tough and Rough Scholars".

2006-2007

This year began with the STARS appearing in the 2006-2007 season of The New Jersey Challenge. After defeating Wayne Valley High School, the STARS then lost to Bergen County Academies.

Later, the STARS took part in the NAQT at Rutgers. Despite undermanned to a point where they were unable to have a full team, the STARS managed to win 4 of 12 games.

Finally that year, the STARS sent two teams to take part in BRITE. However, after both teams advanced to the Top 16 after the playoffs, they were matched up against each other in the next game. The winning team advanced to the quarterfinals where they were defeated by North Brunswick High School.

2007-2008

The STARS participated in the NAQT at Princeton. However, they were quite soundly defeated and were unable to advance past the playoffs.

Later, they once again took part in BRITE. The STARS once again managed to make the Top 16 before getting eliminated.

Revival

2012-2015

In 2012, J.P. Stevens Quiz Bowl was revived. Featuring players like future Jeopardy Teen Tournament Champion Jeff Xie and Team Captains Andy Shi and Vishal Baloor, the team played at The Eleventh Annual Joseph Bookstaber Memorial Tournament. They also qualified for HSCNT in 2012, placing 5th at NAQT New Jersey State championships. In 2013, the team once again competed at NAQT New Jersey State Championships, though they placed 16th.

2017-2019

In 2017, J.P. Stevens Quiz Bowl was brought back once again, this time under former National Geography Bee Champion Karan Menon. Karan Menon would finish as the strongest player in J.P. Stevens Quiz Bowl history. They placed 13th at East Brunswick Funfest IV, and 5th at NACs in Washington DC.

Renaissance

2019-present

The next year, despite losing their best player, the J.P. Stevens Quiz Bowl team placed 5th at East Brunswick Funfest V, under the strong play of newcomer Allen Wang, junior Vice President Joseph George, and seniors Harini Raghavan and President Divyesh Trivedi. In the 2020-21 season, the J.P. Stevens team enjoyed further success, with strong performances at Prison Bowl League, Ithaca Fall, and a 2nd place finish at the Southside Holiday Tournament. This strong play catapulted the team into a 75th place national ranking.

Current Rosters

J.P. Stevens roster
Upperclassmen Seniors (Class of 2021) Joseph George Allen Wang Nilay Patel Rajeev Atla Juniors (Class of 2022) Ishaan Chakravorty Michael Galsim Ramaa Deshpande Aravind Kandasamy Owen Shen Yash Sakharkar Shreyes Varde Victoria He		Underclassmen Sophomores (Class of 2023) Kushal Aluru Lokkit sanjay Babu narayanan Sophia Pan Nishanth Bhargava Freshmen (Class of 2024) Geetika Kaul Other Players {{{Other Players}}}		Coach/President Karan Menon Joseph George Allen Wang Key (C) Captain (A) Alternate Captain

Notable Alumni

• Neil A. Sen, 2009 (Captain, 2009)
• Ria Sen, 2013
• Andy Shi, 2012
• Jeff Xie, 2015 (President, 2014-15)
• Howard Chang, 2012
• Vishal Bailoor, 2012
• Karan Menon, 2019 (President, 2017-19)
• Divyesh Trivedi, 2020 (President, 2020)
• Harini Raghavan, 2020
• Kaushik Isukapalli, 2020