Home Education and Careers Padua Academy teachers celebrate Religion Bowl title during Catholic Schools Week: Photo...

Padua Academy teachers celebrate Religion Bowl title during Catholic Schools Week: Photo gallery

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Padua students urge a Religion Bowl teammate to write down an answer. Dialog photo/Mike Lang

WILMINGTON — It was a thriller, and in the end, the teachers prevailed.

Padua’s third annual Religion Bowl brought the entire school together in the cafetorium on Jan. 28 for some Catholic Schools Week fun and fellowship. But once the questions started coming, the competitive nature of the girls – and their teachers – emerged.

The Religion Bowl features a team from each of the four grades, along with one from the faculty. The teams play through knockout rounds until two finalists are left standing. This year’s junior class, winners of the first two bowls, was stunned by the freshman in the opening round, and the first-year students kept going until the final round.

As they sat in the spotlight on the stage, teacher Andrew Bozanic read out the questions with his best television-announcer voice and a skinny microphone that would make the late Gene Rayburn proud. Some of the questions were fairly easy, such as naming the mother of Jesus and the patron saint of animals. Correct answers elicited loud cheers from many of the students. The match between the freshmen and juniors was especially tight; it could not be settled even with three playoff rounds, so the winner was decided by the old standby, Rock, Paper, Scissors.

The teachers and freshmen were tied as the final question loomed. The question: “What flower does each student receive throughout their four years at Padua?” The answer, as the teachers provided, was a yellow rose.

The freshmen were no doubt disappointed, but they have three years remaining to claim the crown. The juniors, meanwhile, are certainly already practicing for next year in a bid to return the trophy to its rightful owners.

Photos by Mike Lang.