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On the weekend of Saturday, April 26, Happy Valley High School joined 153 of the top quiz bowl teams from small public high schools at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Chicago for the 2025 Small School National Championship Tournament to determine who was the best.

Quiz bowl is a competitive, academic, interscholastic activity for teams of four students. Quiz bowl teams use buzzers to answer questions about science, math, history, literature, mythology, geography, social science, current events, sports and popular culture. The matches feature a blend of individual competition and team collaboration, since no individual player is likely to be an expert in all subject areas. Participation in quiz bowl both reinforces lessons from the classroom and encourages players to develop new intellectual interests.

The team, in the Traditional Public Schools Division, consisted of Tyler Bailey, Blake Gillan, Elisha Jones, Colton Pemberton, Jeneva Powell and Mackenzie Skeans. The team was coached by Shannon Lawson and Alex Payne.

Happy Valley was one of six Tennessee teams competing at the national championship.

Happy Valley finished the preliminary rounds with a 0-10 record. Happy Valley’s shot at the playoffs ended when they lost to Russell A from Kentucky in Round 6.

The Traditional Public Schools Division champion was the A team from West Point High School in Cullman, Alabama. The Open Division champion was the A team from St. Mark’s School of Texas in Dallas.

The 2025 Small School National Championship Tournament (Traditional Public Schools Division) field featured 88 teams from 20 states.