Open letter to the graduating seniors of the Class of
2020
Congratulations on your graduations! After 12
long years of school, you've made it. Whatever awaits you
next -- college, work, volunteering or just time
off -- it is important to recognize your accomplishments.
It is truly unfortunate that your lives got caught up in the
pandemic. Some of you may have been personally touched by
loss, but all of you had to deal with missing out on what other
senior classes have been able to experience. Many
schools/districts have done what they could to simulate some of
these experiences -- most notably graduation -- but I
hope as time goes by, you are able create your own moments, and
make your own memories that will last.
As MasterMinds participants, most of you were not able to close
out the season the way you might have hoped. Playoffs were
cancelled, and most leagues were not even able to complete their
regular seasons. Plus most of you missed out on our closing
speeches. In the interest of providing you with some closure
and some information, allow me a few moments to tell you what's
next....
1) The biggest item on our final meet checklist is getting
contact information for graduating seniors, plus finding out where
you are going to college. We've been able to fill in some of
the college destination gaps, but much of that remains
missing. And we have only a tiny fraction of the e-mails,
Facebook addresses, Instagram accounts or other methods of
contacting you. If you've made it to this page, please know
we'd love to have your contact info because...
1a) One of the things we try and schedule over the summer
are alumni games for new graduates. What we normally do is
ask the new graduates to provide some good days and times for
holding these alumni sessions, then post the most popular options
and allow people to sign up. Those options are posted online
at: www.nymasterminds.com/events/alumnigames.html
These sessions are free -- a thank you for participating
-- and normally run a 2-3 hours. At the sessions, we
ask for some feedback regarding MasterMinds, play a few games
(mixing up the line-ups after each round), and talk a bit about
collegiate quiz bowl, focusing specifically on the colleges the
new alumni will be attending. It's a fun time, and gives you
an additional opportunity to play.
2) While we have had some success with finding out where you
are going to college, we still have significant gaps in our
lists. We post your college destinations online
-- www.nymasterminds.com/program/seniors.html
-- in the hopes that you'll network with other alumni at
college for rides to school or more significantly, playing
collegiate quiz bowl. Whether it's joining an existing
program, founding a new club to play, or simply getting together
with others to attend nearby tournaments, the opportunities to
continue playing are out there.
3) Your coaches did a wonderful job of returning all-star
ballots. We were able to announce all-star teams and school
sportsmanship awards.
Find the list at: www.nymasterminds.com/program/allstars.html.
Kudos to everyone selected and all those who received votes.
4) With regards to collegiate quiz bowl, you'll find it's
very wide-open. Some schools have existing clubs but many do
not. The major player in the collegiate quiz bowl world is
NAQT, the same organization that provides questions for
MasterMinds and our middle school program Academic Challenge
Bowl. What is most notable about much of the quiz bowl
universe is the freedom you are afforded. Nearly all NAQT
and NAQT-sanctioned events do not require teams. You can
even have a single individual simply pay whatever the entry fee
might be for a given event, and participate as a one-person
team. And that is true for fall invitationals, or event the
big Sectional Championship Tournaments held in February, which act
as qualifiers for Nationals. The opportunities are out
there.
So what we are asking for is this: Help Us.
Pass the word. Send us an e-mail and give us
your contact information. If you know where your classmates
are going to college, or players from other schools whom you met
during the season, please help us fill in the gaps. Give us
your best days/times for alumni sessions (weekday, weekend; late
morning, midday, late afternoon). Go to our Facebook
page www.facebook.com/MasterMinds-145356308817009/
and join the MasterMinds Class of 2020 group. We want to
help you play; but we need assistance spreading the news.
Even with the coronavirus pandemic still lurking, we believe small
groups of 6-8 people can safely participate in our alumni
sessions. We hope to spend much of early July connecting
with players, and then post some alumni session options by
mid-July with an eye towards holding sessions in late July/early
and mid-August.
But your help in reaching out will be important, especially with
graduating seniors from other schools.
Lastly, we are continuing to work on our testimonials page —
www.nymasterminds.com/general/playercomments.html
— and if you’d like to contribute something, we’d love to
include it.
So again, congratulations on your graduations! I hope you
are interested and can take advantage of the opportunity to
participate in one of our alumni sessions. And all of us
at MasterMinds wish you nothing but success in all your future
endeavors!
Sincerely
Scott Kroner
MasterMinds Commissioner