Ottawa
| Ottawa | |
| |
|---|---|
| Location: Ottawa, ON | |
| Current President or Coach | Katie Packman |
| National championships | none |
| NAQT Page | link |
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual university in Ottawa, Ontario. Ben Smith has helped to run the "Trivia Club" since he founded it in the 2003-04 season. The club sometimes links with Carleton University and Lisgar, both in Ottawa.
Early History
There are tournament results showing a team from Ottawa participating in several quizbowl tournaments in Canada in the late 1990s and early 2000s. However, no remaining students or club status from that time were apparent upon the establishment of the official club.
Modern History
The current club was established in 2003 amidst several other programs starting up around Canada in the same year. Ben Smith, Michelle Bishop, Jeff Gordon, and Philippe Marchand were the original members. Gordon was president in the early years due to a quirky (and now unenforced) rule stating that U of O clubs and their presidents must be bilingual, although French quizbowl has never been played at Ottawa. The team's debut at the 2004 NAQT Canadian SCT would have been disastrous if not for the last-minute arrival of Tamara Vardomskaya; even then, only fifth place could be mustered. Ottawa has participated in the 2005 ICT and 2006 ICT, finishing in the bottom bracket both times. Smith ran most of the club, though he has not served as president because of language issues.
Almost all of the original members had graduated by 2008, leaving a void to be filled by a new generation of freshmen. Under new president Britney Castleman, membership ballooned to 40 players in 2009-10, and Ottawa participated in 9 tournaments that season. After winning sectionals held at McMaster University, a team of Aaron Kozak, Brendan McKendy, Pamela Wu and Edward Roue culminated a 12th place finish at the DII ICT 2010 held in Chicago. In 2011, the same team achieved a 24th place finish at the DI ICT in Chicago.
In 2012, Radu Popescu and Dennis Beeby will be representing Ottawa at the ICT in Chicago.
Hosted Tournaments
Two annual tournaments are under the banner of Ottawa: the Ottawa Hybrid Tournament, and the Ottawa Quizbowl Tournament.
The OHT is a packet-submission hybrid tournament originally conceived in 2005 as a cash grab to fund a trip to the ICT. Due to popularity, the tournament continued, although with more packet discounts and less intention of profit. While the tournament remains open to all teams, there were foul cries in 2007 when a "professional player" walked over a high school team. This tournament was run by Lisgar as "BLASTOISE" in 2011.
The OQT, first run in 2005, was the first quizbowl-format tournament for high schools in Canada. It used NAQT questions. Lisgar won from 2005 to 2007 and from 2009 to 2011, while Merivale won in 2008.
In the summer of 2009, Ottawa mirrored VETO. A team consisting of Paul Paquet and Philippe Marchand won the tournament.
Ottawa hosted the Canadian SCT in 2011.
Current (2011-12) Members
- Sallya Aleboyeh
- Kathy Andrews (publicity 2009-2010, treasurer 2010-2011, 2011-2012)
- Natalie Ashton
- Dennis Beeby
- Erin Bolton (publicity 2011-2012)
- Julien Bosse (note: Carleton student)
- Ian Ferguson
- Martin Glassford
- Melinda Mah (communications 2012)
- Brendan McKendy ('sheriff' 2010-2011, 2011-2012, 2012-2013)
- Peter McLaren
- Charlotte Moore (vice-president 2011-2012)
- Oscar Mou
- Katie Packman (vice-president/secretary 2010-2011, president 2011-2012)
- Radu Popescu (captain 2011-2012)
- Shelby Robert
- Thea Temple
- Melissa Varin
- Andy Zhu (webmaster 2012)
Alumni (aka Emeriti)
- Dan Barber
- Michelle Bishop
- Britney Castleman (president 2009-2010, 2010-2011)
- Vincent Clavette (publicity 2010-2011)
- Jeff Gordon
- Ian Harten
- Aaron Kozak (captain 2009-2010, 2010-2011)
- Philippe Marchand
- Shauna McNally
- Jeff Quan
- Ben Smith (quizmaster and founder, The Emeritus)
- Stephanie Smith (secretary 2009-2010)
- Tamara Vardomskaya
- Jonathan Weber
- Tina Vander Wielen
- Pamela Wu (website creator, webmaster 2009-2011?)