CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A team of food science and human nutrition students from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign were the crème de la crème at the Institute of Food Technologists Student Association College Bowl Competition in Chicago on July 14.
The Illinois team defeated the University of California, Davis, in the final round to clinch its inaugural national title. What made the victory even sweeter was that the final score was 48 to -4 — the largest point spread ever in the finals, according to the event’s announcer. Department head and professor Nicki Engeseth shared the news in an email congratulating the team on its victory. The department is a unit within the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.
“FSHN is so proud of this team,” Engeseth said. “Although just four competed in nationals, this has been a strong larger team effort. It has been exciting to follow their progress; they worked intensely as a group for this accomplishment. We look forward to celebrating their success in the fall when everyone is back on campus.”
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The Illinois team was one of eight regional finalists to compete in this year’s national College Bowl tournament, an intense trivia contest in which teams of four students field questions on a range of topics, including food chemistry and analysis, food laws and regulations, and sensory science. The annual competition is held every summer during the IFT’s convention and expo, IFT First.
Team captain Jonathan Chen, a second-year doctoral student from Singapore, said that the UC Davis team was a formidable opponent that worked hard to stay in the competition after Illinois handed the team its first loss. UC Davis then beat every other team on their way back up, only to fall to Illinois again when the two teams faced off during the final round.
“Until the last question, I wasn’t really paying attention to the points,” Chen said. “I was just thinking, ‘I’m here to do my best and answer everything to the best of my ability.’ And when I finally looked at the scoreboard, I thought, ‘Oh, okay…’”
“We’d actually won a while ago,” said Tyler Pham, a senior from Peoria, Illinois, and the chapter’s vice president. “It was really the rest of the team that was not even on the stage that made the energy feel so electric. When you have your full team watching you — and we have a very proud and excited team — it makes it a lot more fun when you answer a question. You could hear the individual voices of our friends, our teammates, cheering us on.”
Pham, who joined the College Bowl team during his freshman year, said the team was less developed and competitive the first years he was on it, but an influx of new members infused energy and the determination to win.
“Before that, the team was more like a few friends who liked food science and wanted to talk about trivia. We casually competed in the regionals, but we never made it to the nationals. Before last year, I think it had been eight years or so since (Illinois) had competed in the nationals. And then Jonathan came along this last year, and the team really took off because he has this drive for trivia and competition that nobody in College Bowl had ever seen. And it really made everyone want to be more serious about winning.”
Team members began devoting more time and effort to studying and improving the question bank they used for practice and to hone their skills, Pham said. Studying trivia for the competitions is similar to tackling an additional academic course, demanding hours of memorizing facts on the various topics, he said.
Those individuals who were selected to represent the Illinois team at the national competition were chosen based on the breadth and depth of their collective knowledge. They were Ananya Prashanth Mani, a senior from Gurgaon, India; and Kathleen Polli, a senior from Elgin, Illinois; Chen and Pham. Other team members were Noah Aldrin, a senior from Gurnee, Illinois; Alysha Haverkos, a senior from Willowbrook, Illinois; Luke Molenhouse, a sophomore from Mount Greenwood, Illinois; and Lucas Nelson, a sophomore from Forreston, Illinois.
“Kathleen was the go-to person for food history, food law and legislation, and it was really inspiring to see her study so much and keep on top of changing policies,” Chen said. “And Ananya studies microbiology, so she would study those questions and those about the Institute of Food Technologists. Tyler was well known for the culinary questions, such as ‘What is the base dough for an éclair?’”
There may have been a couple of “Hail Mary” shots, such as their response to the question, “How does the size of a radish affect its sweetness?” — which the team answered correctly in saying that the smaller the radish, the sweeter it is. However, all of their diligent study and practice paid off, and the final question was a snap, since they had gone over it time and again: “What are the nine essential amino acids for adults?” Answer: Phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, isoleucine, valine, methionine, histidine, leucine and lysine.
Among the benefits of participating in College Bowl, Chen said, is that the knowledge prepares participants for the questions they will encounter in their courses and everyday lives. “They learn a lot more, and they can go more in depth because they already have that foundation since we cover it within the College Bowl trainings. I hope that it also inspires people to have this thirst for knowledge, to study more and really understand how things work, rather than to just get through a course to pass and earn the academic credits,” Chen said.
Likewise, the knowledge equips student interns and new graduates for the problems they encounter when they enter the workforce, Pham said. “And on top of that, there are the networking opportunities at the competitions and conventions. You’re meeting your peers from other universities who will be your colleagues in industry.”
Despite the team’s exhilaration at their big win, they had little time to celebrate that evening. Mani, who is a research and development intern at Niagara Bottling in Diamond Bar, California, had to catch a flight back there that night, and Pham had a 5 a.m. flight the next morning to Valhalla, New York, where he is an intern at PepsiCo this summer. However, they expect to hold some type of celebration when everyone is back on campus for the coming fall semester.
As the champions, the Illinois team members shared the $1,000 top prize, which they may use for team-bonding activities, new T-shirts or other organizational expenses, Pham said. As one of the finalists, the Illinois team also received partial reimbursement for student travel expenses and registration fees at IFT First.
