Ryan Smith od Downingtown STEM was honored as an All-Star at the National Quiz Bowl playoffs.
On the weekend of Saturday, May 24, Downingtown STEM Academy joined 335 of the top high school quiz bowl teams at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis and the Hilton Atlanta for the 2025 High School National Championship Tournament to determine who was the best.
Quiz bowl is a competitive, academic, interscholastic activity for teams of four students. Quiz bowl teams use buzzers to answer questions about science, math, history, literature, mythology, geography, social science, current events, sports, and popular culture. The matches feature a blend of individual competition and team collaboration, since no individual player is likely to be an expert in all subject areas. Participation in quiz bowl both reinforces lessons from the classroom and encourages players to develop new intellectual interests.
The team was captained by Ryan Smith, who was joined by Ameya Bhalerao, Joe Lin, and Mihir Subramaniam. The team was coached by Stephen DiRomualdo.
Downingtown STEM was one of 15 Pennsylvania teams competing at the national championship.
Downingtown STEM finished the preliminary rounds with a 6-4 record, which qualified them for the playoffs.
Downingtown STEM Academy played Great Valley A from near home in round 18, suffering a 270-240 defeat.
Downingtown STEM’s path to the playoffs wasn’t easy. They were on the brink of elimination when they defeated Chattahoochee B from Johns Creek, Georgia in round 20 to stay alive. Downingtown STEM’s shot at the title ended when they lost to Stuyvesant from New York, New York in round 22.
Ryan Smith was honored as an All-Star for correctly answering 80 tossup questions — 11 of them for “power,” that is, so early as to earn extra points — in the preliminary rounds.
Downingtown STEM Academy finished in 65th place.
The tournament champion was the A team from Livingston High School of Livingston, New Jersey.
The 2025 High School National Championship Tournament’s field featured 336 teams from 37 states, the District of Columbia, and Guatemala.
