The Surry Central High School Quiz Bowl team confers before answering a question at the Northwest Regional Library’s 2012 Quiz Bowl at the Andy Griffith Playhouse on Saturday morning.

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What is the popular term that translates from French as “That’s life” or “That’s how things happen?” Do you know the answer? The Surry Central High School Quiz Bowl team did and it is: “C’est La Vie.” Surry Central’s Quiz Bowl team answer that question correctly as it beat out eight other teams to win the 2012 Northwest Regional Library High School Quiz Bowl 2012.

Other schools taking part in the Saturday morning competition at the Andy Griffith Playhouse were East Surry, North Surry, Elkin, Mount Airy, Surry Early College, Yadkin Early College, Starmount and South Stokes.

Surry Central won the competition with 140 points to 35 over Elkin High School in the final round of competition.

The judges for the event were Wayne Matthews, Beth Lyon-Smith and Homer Dearmin. The Authority was Joan Sherif. The scorekeepers were Pat Gwyn, Angela Llewelyn, Christy Ellington. The time keepers were Steve Brueckner and Sandy Phillips.

Surry Central’s only female competitor, Jeanice Cozzens, said she thought the competition was “very exciting.”

“It was very exciting to come out and win this,” said Cozzens.

The Surry Central (SCHS) team prepared for the Quiz Bowl for 30 minutes every Thursday after school.

“It’s kind of hard to prepare for something like this,” said SCHS’s team member Alex Fowler, who added that math is not his strong suit.

Chase Graham, a sophomore on the Surry Central team, said he felt his heart pounding during the last round.

“It was so nerve-wracking. When it came down to that final round, I just thought if the final is as close as the semi-final, I’m going to have a heart attack,” said Graham.

Elliott Draughn said the Dobson Library was going to honor the team in the near future.

Surry Central’s Quiz Bowl Coach Angie Graham has been coaching quiz bowl teams for 21 years.

“I knew that they had their strengths, I knew they knew their history, current events and literature, what I was concerned about was the arts. I was concerted about artists and movements and paintings, but they got in a flow and seemed to grow with their confidence. I was so pleased — and relieved,” said Graham.

Homer Dearmin, town manager of Pilot Mountain, competed his junior and senior year in Quiz Bowl while at East Surry. He has served for five years as a judge at the NWPL Quiz Bowl events.

“It’s always fun to come out and see a good academic competition and it’s encouraging to see that our high school students are engaged in current events and in their studies. It’s really neat. It’s really the only venue that the public gets to see that,” said Dearmin. “I enjoy it. It’s a lot of fun. I look forward to it.”

Dearmin kept statistics from the Quiz Bowl. He said that 72 questions were asked in each round. In the first round, 28 were answered correctly and 10 and a half were answered as half credits. In the second round, 24 questions were answered correctly with 9 and a half questions being answered for half credits. In the third round, 14 were answered correctly with 10 and a half being answered for half credits.

Joan Sherif, with the NWRL, and the organizer for the event, said she thought Saturday’s event was competitive.

“We are excited for next year already. I really want to encourage all of these students in all of their endeavors,” said Sherif.

Reach Mondee Tilley at mtilley@heartlandpublications.com or at 719-1930.