Hoover may be down, but we’re not out. After placing 4th in the 2025 GUSD High School Scholastic Bowl, HHS is ready for a comeback.

Crescenta Valley High School took the top prize with Clark Magnet High School in second, and Glendale High School in third.

The Scholastic Bowl provides students a thrilling opportunity to compete on teams in a knowledge-based competition.

Participants receive $500, $250, $150, and $100 scholarships, corresponding to their team’s placement.

Hoover’s Scholastic Bowl team is coached by Mr. Armen Demirchyan. Anyone interested in joining the team next year should contact him by email or in person. 

Each school’s team consists of five members. Hoover’s team consists of Anahit Kazaryan (’27), Leona Khachatourian (’27), Trina Shahmirzaian (’27), Edgar Mirzakhanyan (’28), and Elenia Mardirosian (’27).

The first phase of the Scholastic Bowl is an essay writing competition on the 24th of February. Participants get 60 minutes to write an essay based on a random prompt, likely based on current world controversies. Three readers score the essays on a scale of 1-10. All team members write the essay individually.

The second phase of the Scholastic Bowl is the buzzer competition, which took place on the 10th of March, in the GHS auditorium.

Coaches may elect to substitute in their fifth team member at the midpoint of the buzzer competition.  Each school may only make one substitution. Once a player is subbed in, they play the rest of the competition.

The subjects in the Scholastic Bowl are English, math, science, social studies, history, and fine arts.

The buzzer competition has 50 questions. Participants have ten seconds to buzz in for all questions except for math-related questions which grant 30 seconds.

Two points are granted for correct answers, one point is deducted for wrong answers, and no points are deducted for not answering.

At the end of the first and second phase, the points are totalled from all teams to determine the winner.