ACADEMIC BOWL

from Illinois Freemasonry Magazine - Fall 2021

My Life-Long Journey Spent Choosing the Future

By Dale Thayer

The Illinois Masonic Academic Bowl is one of the largest programs supported by our Grand Lodge and over the past 37 years has made a very positive impact on the lives of many, many high school youth. Having Lodges sponsor their local or nearby high school(s) is a major part of this program. Schools do not pay an entry fee in order to compete in our scholastic bowl tournament and this is one of very few tournaments in which schools participate for free. The sponsorship money from Lodges helps offset the total cost of running this tournament.

Please mark these two dates on your Lodge calendar AND your personal calendar.

SECTIONAL TOURNAMENT DATE

FEBRUARY 19, 2022 (Saturday)

Several locations throughout state to be determined in mid-January after schools register

STATE TOURNAMENT DATE

MARCH 5, 2022 (Saturday)

Bloomington High School in Bloomington

Choose our with the upcoming 2022 Tournament

I am surprised every year by the number of coaches that contact me after the tournament is over wanting me to give them a contact person in the Lodge that sponsored their team. My Brothers, show your pride in your Lodge, your school, and your community by actually getting to know the team your Lodge is sponsoring. The time spent interacting with these high school students and their coaches just may help choose the future of your Lodge and this great Fraternity by showing them that you are genuinely interested in them. By not visibly showing any interest in them, how can we expect them to ever be interested in us and our Fraternity? Choose the future – show pride to the team you are sponsoring.

There are scholastic bowl team members and coaches 3-5 hours away from where I live that I have actually gotten to know – some for several years. That has only been possible by me actually going to the tournament sites. Yes, some years I travel 3-5 hours to visit a tournament site because it is very important to the success of this program to get to know people involved in our program. No, you will not have to travel that many hours just to be present at the

Sectional Tournament location for your team, because of the many locations we schedule. Lodge members can show a lot of pride by attending the tournament site where their team is competing and letting the team know you are there for them and show them a lot of support during the day. Every year I am a little disappointed by the lack of attendance by Masons at the tournament sites. My Brothers, this is the Masonic Academic Bowl. Team members and coaches should not have to look around during the competition day to find Masons in attendance. With this being a Masonic event, they should be able to see Masons almost everywhere they look. Remember, attend the tournament site, talk to the team your Lodge sponsored, show pride in their accomplishments, and help choose the future in a very positive way.

As of October 25th, we have 124 high schools registered for our tournament and 56 Lodges that have sent in money to sponsor schools.

We now have a new website up and running at www.academicbowl.org. Check it out. It shows the participating schools and sponsoring Lodges. The website is updated every day that I receive new data. I try to update it between 6 pm and 8 pm on those days. Closer to tournament time, it will show locations of the Sectional Tournament sites and the schools assigned to each of those sites. It will also show the results of the sectional tournaments, those advancing to the state tournament, and the state tournament results.

Questions or comments about the Illinois Masonic Academic Bowl should be submitted to Dale Thayer, Chairman, via email at thayerdale @mchsi.com or by telephone at 815-441-3070.