By day, to many sophomores and juniors, Mr. David Lynch is first and foremost an Integrated Math Three teacher. By night, however, many students know him as the coach of the Quiz Bowl team. 

   The Guilford Quiz Bowl team meets twice a week and then competes on WTVO to answer trivia questions in a Jeopardy! style format. The games are pre-recorded and aired at a later date. 

   Mr. Lynch has been the Quiz Bowl coach for the past eight years.

   “I did Quiz Bowl back in high school and I always really enjoyed it,” said Mr. Lynch. “My favorite part about being a coach here is interacting with the students and seeing them outside of the classes and building that academic knowledge but also having a good time with them as well.”

   Not only does Mr. Lynch enjoy it, but when asked, many students have said that they also enjoy working with him.

   “He’s really good at telling us what we need to learn,” said Jacey Jerding, senior. “He’s very lenient. He’s really good at telling us that we are wrong without making us feel bad.”

   Many students are anxious about joining Quiz Bowl because they feel like they may not know much about the material. However, Mr. Lynch emphasizes that participation and getting a question wrong is better than showing up and not trying. 

   “He is very much all about participation rather than being right,” said Casey Pawlowski, sophomore. “It’s a lot easier to learn than being told ‘you’re wrong’ repeatedly. He is very laid back. He’s not super uptight like some of the other teachers that I have had in the past.”

   The Quiz Bowl team competes in conferences. Conferences are the “games” of the Quiz Bowl season. They play each team twice during each season. One of Mr. Lynch’s biggest accomplishments happened during two of these conferences.

   “A few years ago we finished third in the conference,” said Mr. Lynch. “Our conferences are always very challenging, so finishing third was a great accomplishment. We actually did it two years in a row.” 

   Not everything is an accomplishment when it comes to being the coach of Quiz Bowl. Mr. Lynch has expressed that there have been some difficulties that have come with the job.

   “The hardest part is finding the time to be a good coach because I have my own family at home and my kids are getting involved in more things,” said Mr. Lynch. “Trying to make sure that I am balancing the work/home with this is an extension of my job, but it’s something that I still enjoy doing.”

   The Quiz Bowl team has a conference that is being filmed for television at the beginning of November. Conferences are very nerve-wracking, but Mr. Lynch has been doing all he can to prepare the students.

   “We prepare mostly by skrimaging amongst ourselves,” said Mr. Lynch. “We use old question sets because the questions do repeat. The question stems are the same as in the competition. They may ask the same question in three different ways, but it’s always the same information.”

   Jacey Jerding is in her second year of Quiz Bowl and enjoys Mr. Lynch’s coaching style.

   “He is very good at preparing you for competitions,” said Jerding. “He tells you what it’s like instead of just the questions.”

   Even if they don’t do as well as they would hope, Mr. Lynch just wants them to give it their all.

   “I am really proud of our team,” said Mr. Lynch.