Wake County HBOB goes virtual

The first-ever Wake County HBOB competition went virtual in order to honor all of the hard work and dedication the student participants put forth all year. Co-sponsored by Wake County Public Library Youth Services Librarians and Jessica Lawrence, Barnes & Noble Market Business Development Manager, teams from Garner Magnet High School and Wake Forest High School took to their home computers on May 22nd. The teams answered the same questions in two separate rounds of 4 battles over Google Meet with the judges. Scoring was the same as in-person battles; however, there were no pick-up points and no challenges to questions or incorrect answers. The planned tie-breaker round was almost needed as the final score tallied 108 for Wake Forest High School and 111 for Garner Magnet High School. Despite all of the uncertainty of if and how to have a virtual competition and one team losing a member to an unplanned hospital stay that week, the students rallied like true BOB warriors through it all. The adults persevered as well, losing one judge to Contact Tracing training the week of and the moderator to illness the day before the competition. Coaches are Carol Shearin for Garner Magnet High School and Heather Fields for Wake Forest High School.