Ottawa

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Ottawa
Ottawalogo.jpg
Location:
Ottawa, ON
Current President or Coach Radu Popescu
National championships none
NAQT Page link

The University of Ottawa is a bilingual university in Ottawa, Ontario. Ben Smith has helped run the "Trivia Club" since he founded it in the 2003-04 season. The club sometimes links with Carleton University and Lisgar, both located 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 participated in the 2005 ICT and 2006 ICT, finishing in the bottom bracket both times. Smith ran most of the club, though he did not serve 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 (14th individual), Pamela Wu and Edward Roue culminated a 12th place finish at the DII 2010 ICT held in Chicago. The same team achieved a 24th place finish at the DI 2011 ICT in Chicago.

Radu Popescu and Dennis Beeby (6th individual) represented Ottawa at the DII 2012 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 in 2011 as "BLASTOISE".

The OQT, first run in 2005, is the first quizbowl-format tournament for high schools in Canada. It uses NAQT questions. Lisgar won from 2005 to 2007 and from 2009 to 2012, 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 (2012-13) Members

  • Mackenzie Bartlett
  • Dennis Beeby
  • Dana Fan
  • Ian Ferguson
  • Kolja Kypke
  • Melinda Mah (communications 2012, publicity 2012-2013)
  • Brendan McKendy ('sheriff' 2010-2011, 2011-2012, 2012-2013)
  • Peter McLaren
  • Rodrigo Morante
  • Oscar Mou
  • Jordan Palmer
  • Joe Pugh
  • Radu Popescu (captain 2011-2012, 2012-2013, president 2012-2013)
  • Shelby Robert
  • Thea Temple (co-treasurer 2012-2013)
  • Jonathan Weber (co-treasurer 2012-2013)
  • Andy Zhu (webmaster 2012-2013)


Alumni/Former Members)

  • Kathy Andrews (publicity 2009-2010, treasurer 2010-2011, 2011-2012)
  • Natalie Ashton
  • Dan Barber
  • Michelle Bishop
  • Erin Bolton (publicity 2011-2012)
  • 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
  • Charlotte Moore (vice-president 2011-2012)
  • Katie Packman (vice-president/secretary 2010-2011, president 2011-2012)
  • Jeff Quan
  • Edward Roue
  • Ben Smith (quizmaster and founder, Emeritus)
  • Stephanie Smith (secretary 2009-2010)
  • Tamara Vardomskaya
  • Tina Vander Wielen
  • Pamela Wu (website creator, webmaster 2009-2011?)

Links

Website: http://www.uotrivia.ca Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/57314731087/ Twitter: @uOttawaTrivia

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