L-P, Streator graduates compete on Columbia, Princeton scholastic bowl teams

La Salle-Peru High School graduate Shea Rathburn and Streator graduate Nathan Beck once competed against each other in high school scholastic bowl — now, they compete against each other at the Ivy League level.

Rathburn, a first-year student at Columbia, graduated from La Salle-Peru High School in the spring, and Streator High School graduate Beck is now a sophomore attending Princeton. Both competed against each other on their high school scholastic bowl teams and now see a familiar face during college quiz bowl competitions.

Rathburn’s former Scholastic Bowl Coach and Teacher Troy Woods described Rathburn as an all-star, and said she’s hardworking and personable. He said for her to be competing at that level is an impressive achievement.

“I’ve been teaching for almost 30 years, and she’s probably one of the most driven students I have ever taught,” Woods said.

Rathburn participated in scholastic bowl all four years of high school and was the salutatorian of her class. Her major is undecided, and she’s exploring her many interests in creative writing, pre-medicine and history.

Streator Scholastic Bowl Coach and Teacher Rob Tyne said Beck was “a force to be reckoned with” in high school, and Beck blew him away with his factual and in-depth knowledge.

“It was amazing watching other teams thinking he was only a math genius or science genius when really he was a plethora of genius,” Tyne said. “That was so exciting to watch unfold right in front of me, especially with schools that are bigger than we are.”

Beck also participated in scholastic bowl all four years and was the valedictorian of his graduating class. Beck is majoring in computer science and wants to get his PhD so he can do research in machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Both Beck and Rathburn said they wanted to continue competing in quiz bowl at the college level because of how much fun they had in high school and the lifelong friends they met on their teams. They said participating in it has changed them to become more open minded and confident in themselves.

“I would say I’m more willing to learn things I wasn’t before. During my freshman or sophomore year (of high school) I was like nope, that’s boring, music’s boring, I don’t want to study that,” Beck said. “And now I want to take an art history class every semester because it’s the best class I’ve had.”

“There’s this idea (in scholastic bowl) of pushing you to be confident in yourself and the idea of if you think you know it, most likely you do know it,” Rathburn said. “It’s better to try it if you have a pretty good certainty rather than giving the other team a chance and you kicking yourself after. I definitely learned to not only be confident in myself, but to learn to trust my gut and trust what I’m feeling.”

Beck and Rathburn reconnected during a quiz bowl tournament at Princeton in December. Beck said it’s fun to know someone he knew from high school in La Salle County is on the East Coast, too.

Both Rathburn and Beck said they would strongly encourage kids who are interested to try scholastic bowl and not worry about whether they’re smart enough or know enough.

“There’s this idea that you have to be super smart to do it, you have to know everything, and in reality you don’t have to know everything. You don’t have to be No. 1 in the class,” Rathburn said. “As long as you have interest in any area, there’s a chance you can contribute to your team winning or getting a point. It’s not just academics, there’s pop culture, cooking, sports, there’s so many questions about sports. In high school, I can’t tell you the amount of times the kids who did not know sports were scrambling.”

Despite their overwhelmingly positive experiences in scholastic bowl, both Rathburn and Beck said it’s not without it’s difficulties. Beck said “it’s a really scary transition” from high school to college quiz bowl, and Rathburn said the questions are not only harder, but deeper and more complex.

“It’s a very scary environment to start in at every level ... and there’s a phase where you don’t even want to touch the buzzer because you’re scared to get it wrong and look stupid,” Beck said. “But once you start getting into it and finding something you’re passionate about, you start doing it for the joy of learning.”