GRHS History Club ready for Nationals

A team composed of Glen Ridge High School History Club members will participate in a premier school quiz competition next month when it travels to Arlington, Va., to compete in the National History Bowl.

This was the goal club adviser Dave Majewski, a district teacher for 19 years, set last year for a team only in its second season of interscholastic competition.
In 2025, after finishing as runner-up in the states, GRHS won the regionals but did not qualify for the championship playoff round in Orlando, Fla. According to Majewski, who spoke last week in his homeroom, the buzzer stopping the clock to answer the question was a major problem.

“Using the buzzer system was a skill that needed to be practiced and perfected,” he said. “Initially, the buzzers were intimidating and the students waited until the very end of the question to buzz in and respond. This cost them the opportunity to answer questions they were confident in. They did not want to buzz in too early and that hesitation cost them against some of the better teams. They wanted to be absolutely positive about an answer. This year, they’re willing to take a chance and trust themselves. With all the studying they do, it may lead to an educational guess. Last year, they waited to hear the last fact to make sure they were correct. The kids learned they have to know a lot more to compete at this level.”

So far, so good this year. On Feb. 22, the club went 5-0 in its regionals to again qualify for the nationals.

The regional champions were led by regional MVP and Wake Forest University-bound senior Linus Holzapfel and seniors Logan Porowski, the team captain, and Nico Frazier. Sophomores Bea Reining and Ben Schaper rounded-out the squad.

MVP Linus acknowledged that studying for these competitions is difficult because of the wide breath of knowledge required.

Team members unable to attend the regionals were sophomores Neville Canteenwalla, Corbin Wunderlich and Fatebir Potukuchi. The five schools GRHS bested, all in New York, were Yonkers, Great Neck, Locust Valley and Stuyvesant high schools, and Riverdale Country Day.

Logan, who spoke alongside Majewski, emphasized that quick answers are essential and sometimes yield bonus points.

“There are also times when you answer as a team.” he said, ‘You talk among yourselves and the team captain gives the answer. And sometimes there are questions that gradually get more specific.”

Forty-six states sent national teams to Orlando last year, he said. To Majewski this is a two-edged sword since schools are naturally imbued with the history of their region.

“We live in an area dominated by the American Revolution,” he said. “Maybe the kids from California know more about the westward expansion. But the questions are all about listening. And there are sometimes questions about recent history.”

Logan interjected that there was one question in the regional about Sam Bankman-Fried.

Bankman-Fried, 34, founded FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange, was convicted of fraud in 2023 and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

“The Glen Ridge kids love history,” Majewski continued. “They often take high-level history classes so they’re studying each and every day just by taking the class.”

It is up to a history club member if they want to join the competitive team. There are three grade levels: varsity, junior varsity and middle school, and the forecast for interscholastic competition is good with many girls involved. Eight eighth-grade girls will be competing March 6, in Washington, D.C., in a National Women’s History Month tournament.

Established nine years ago by Majewski, there are about 40 students in the GRHS History Club.

“Being a teacher, I knew there was a need for it,” he said. “And now the tournaments will give the kids an avenue to compete. It doesn’t have to be athletics. It’s just important to find avenues for competition. When kids compete, they dedicate themselves at a different level and you can’t get away from the results. There’s a scoreboard and at the end of the day.”