Nate Kang
Nathaniel Kang | |
Noted subjects | History, Generalist, all Sports, Classical Music |
High school | St. Margaret's (2018 - Present) |
Middle school | Camelot Academy (2017 - 2018) Grace Classical (CA) (2015 - 2017) |
Stats | HDWhite • NAQT |
Nathaniel Kang (Class of 2022) is a high school history bee/bowl and quizbowl player for St. Margaret's Episcopal in Southern California. A seasoned veteran of NHBB competition, as president and founder of the Saint Margaret's History Club, Kang was also responsible for establishing the school's history & QB teams as well.
Though the Tartans have several team members, as of spring 2019, Kang often ends up playing solo in tournaments.
Individual career
Nate is a four-time national semifinalist in the National History Bee and Bowl, achieving that feat every year consecutively since 2015. In his best nationals performance to date, at the 2018 Middle School National History Bee championships, he finished 5th in the country in the 8th grade division, but missed out on reaching the final round (top four) after losing to Cooper Roh in the semifinals by a margin of 1 question, despite leading for much of the game. (That semifinal room also included another member of the famous "Four Horsemen", Shiva Oswal, who had managed to get out by scoring 8 points in only 9 tossups)
He placed seventh nationally in JV at the 2019 US History Bee, eliminating reigning ACE NHB national champ Robert Muniz in the semifinals to finally advance to his first-ever finals appearance in a major Nationals event. Kang has also won the history bee regional championship in SoCal every year since 2015, the year his playing career began. At the 2018 ACE Los Angeles Regional Finals, he won the 8th Grade title by reaching the necessary 8 correct responses in an unprecedented 9 questions; at the 2016 Finals, he won a close final against his former classmate at Fairmont Private School, Ameya Singh, by a score of 8-7 following a furious comeback at the death. Down 7-3 to Singh with 7 questions to go in the packet, he came back from a 4-question deficit at the end of the game by getting 5 of the next 6 tossups to claim the Elementary championship.
He also won two consecutive national championships across two iterations of the National Sports & Entertainment Bee, in 2017 (7th grade division, Atlanta) & 2018 (JV division, Arlington).
Despite his history experience, Nate only started to play general quizbowl as a freshman, in late 2018. Still, he was invited to the 2019 NAQT IPNCT in Chicago, but did not attend.
Personal
He is an avid sports fan, and among his favorite teams are UCLA, the Los Angeles Angels, and Chelsea F.C. He takes pride in his Korean heritage. He runs cross country and track & field for St. Margaret's.
Studying
In History Bee, Kang has studied with and mentored his friend, Pegasus School player Max Razmjoo.