Once the award ceremony ends, the Venomous Agendas' quiz bowl coach then has so much to talk about to Imélie, especially as it pertains to the evolution of both the Venomous Agendas' quiz bowl and mathletics programs after Imélie graduated.
"We have nine years to catch up, Imélie" Warren told her because he seemed to have fond memories of Imélie's quiz bowling days.
"Let's start with the history of Venomous Agenda quiz bowl. How did the VAs perform at State and the HSNCT after I left?" Imélie asks her former coach.
"The Venomous Agendas went to the HSNCT most years. We organized online games against other schools, such as, you know, Boston Latin, TJHSST, Stuyvesant, Whitman but sometimes we had quiz bowl games before football games if our football opponents at home games are also schools that happen to play quiz bowl as well, and we offer them free tickets to the football game. During the Math Madness season, we usually hold the online quiz bowl game on the same day as the math game"
"From my recollection of my days in high school, often there was a mathlete on the quiz bowl team. There were Marcia and me, and, although I think quiz bowl interferes with mathletics, there were people able to do both"
"The main reason I am interested in other academic extracurriculars the quiz bowlers engaged in is because I don't expect the same of them if they do either debate or mathletics at a high level. However, debate is the poor child of Venomous Agenda academic ECs. That said I can say this much: no Venomous Agenda quiz bowler ever scored more than a ten on the AIME, and only one mathlete that played quiz bowl as a Venomous Agenda made it to the USAMO. Unfortunately, he just wasn't IMO material. And, as a quiz bowler, of all the mathletes of the past ten years, his USAMO season was his worst quiz bowl season, so others had to pick up some M&S slack that year"
If I remember correctly, the first time a VA ever scored a double-digit score on the AIME, I was a sophomore at the time. That was, you guessed it, Gen. And Éliane, too. Pre-pandemic the admins were negligent across all academic ECs, or so I was told. And before my junior year, there wasn't even an attempt at systematic scouting for quiz bowl! Imélie's limited information on the troubled Venomous Agendas' mathletic past somehow resurfaces.
"In my time in high school, our fans seemed weirdly obsessed with international mathletics, and specifically trying to get a girl to qualify to the IMO. I get that Gen was IMO material, but I clearly wasn't, and I wonder why do the VAs' fanbase obsess with getting a girl to the IMO so much"
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
"Think of it that way: poor access to role models hurt girls in STEM subjects. The principal of your time wanted to build an environment where people could live with high academic achievement in a gender-neutral way, across the board. And he also believed that role models in their own yard were easier to relate to, especially if they were the same age as them, or a little older if we're talking about inspiring middle schoolers. But to accomplish that, he needed high-achieving girls in these areas, and nothing screamed "high-achieving girl" like EG/IMO qualification given the limited extracurricular budgets we have and what we decided to devote that to. And, after Jennifer graduated, that principal became the parish's school district superintendent and his replacement was a little less obsessed with extracurricular achievement, but still drove us to excel"
"Now that you mention Jennifer, she was anointed the future of Venomous Agendas mathletics as of the year I graduated. What happened to her?"
"She also went to the EGMO the following year, but she fell short of the IMO team. No other Venomous Agenda qualified for the EGMO since, and neither did we at the IMO. Speaking of the IMO, if you were to return to our parish, it would be 2024 all over again, but now there's a real chance for our girl, Trillian, to qualify for the IMO. You will hear about her nation-wide if she does make it, but everything depends on the USAMO next week, regardless of whether we're talking about the EGMO or the IMO. If the parish newspaper's estimates are correct, as of right now Trillian is anywhere between fourth to sixth in the race to the IMO"
If it is 2024 all over again, just with a different girl on whom to pin an entire state's mathletic hopes on, and that she is supposed to accomplish what Geneviève or Jennifer couldn't, then she will be the talk of the parish. Already that 3 EGMO qualifications in 10 years is just insane for virtually any school, let alone 2 in 3 years. Clearly this season is "IMO or bust" for the whole parish, Imélie ponders, while Warren's listing of the high school's mathletic track record gives her pause. Especially since the way she remembers 2023-2024's Venomous Agendas mathletic season is that Gen was either the best or second-best female USAMO participant that year. Am I romanticizing high school more than I did college? Or simply that, in college, I could do whatever I wanted, and no one would notice? If so, assuming I am admitted at Tulane, I can run the quiz bowl team however I wish, and the university's administration would not realize anything!
"And Sadie then?"
"As for Sadie, the main girl you played with during your senior year, was consistently, for three seasons, one of the best female quiz bowlers in the state. We went to four HSNCTs in a row, then after Sadie graduated, we went into a lull, but our best quiz bowl season was clearly your season as a senior, where we were fifth. After that, we had two more seasons in the top-fifteen but no further Power Six. That was the golden age of Venomous Agendas quiz bowl. But in quiz bowl, we had more consistency than in mathletics, in that we were always in medal contention at State, and when we do medal, we always end up in the top-forty at the HSNCT, whereas after Jennifer's graduation, there were years where we didn't have anyone at the USAMO"
"Thank you. I must go now"