A change of heart on the state level means the Public Library Quiz Bowl will survive for at least another year.

“I am very excited,” Agnes Ho, director of the Kinston-Lenoir County Public Library, said.

The reprieve comes from Lisbeth Evans, the state’s cultural resources director. Evans’ department oversees the State Library of North Carolina.

The Cultural Resources Department will “explore long-term solutions to concerns raised about the program by the State Library Commission,” Evans said.

The Youth Services Advisory Committee of the state library recommended discontinuing the Quiz Bowl after this year. The committee said the event discriminated against some students, did not receive the support it should have from public schools and is not generally recognized as a library function.

"By its nature, the Quiz Bowl program is exclusive in that only a handful of students at each high school are chosen to participate," the committee said.

The Cultural Resources Department said Evans reviewed the youth services committee’s recommendation, as well as “comments and concerns of the public, the library community and the program's constituents” before making her decision.

The Kinston library’s Friends of the Library decided earlier this month to continue with the local Quiz Bowl without state sponsorship, if necessary. However, without the state’s involvement, it is doubtful that regional contests and the state-wide Quiz Bowl would be possible.

Students who have participated in the Quiz Bowl treasure the memory, Ho said. A student recently told her he “couldn’t wait” to be in the next Quiz Bowl, which will be held at 2 p.m. in the Schechter Auditorium at the Kinston-Lenoir County Public Library. One of her son’s friends, who graduated from college a few years ago, told Ho about a question someone asked him. The young man said he remembered immediately that the question was one that had been asked during a Quiz Bowl in which he had participated.

“People are calling. They want it to continue,” Ho said. “ The public library and the Quiz Bowl are inseparable. Not every kid can play sports. We have to give those other kids a chance to represent their school.”

Residents can encourage the continuation of the Quiz Bowl by contacting Fay Mitchell Henderson at (919) 807-7389 or by emailing fay.henderson@ncmail.net.

“If you want to support it, please get in touch with her,” Ho said. “The Quiz Bowl means so much to our community.”

Print this page

Have an opinion. Register Here and post on our Message board.