This blog was guest-authored by FRE undergraduate student Shelby Sumner.
In July, members of the UF Agricultural Economics Quiz Bowl team traveled to Washington, D.C., to compete at the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) conference. This was my second year competing in the quiz bowl, and I’ve had the opportunity to travel to New Orleans, LA, Anaheim, CA, Oklahoma City, OK, and now Washington, D.C., to compete with the team.
For those who haven’t heard of quiz bowl before, it is a Jeopardy-style contest that is played in teams of three. For the agricultural economics quiz bowl, the question categories include Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Agribusiness & Finance, Resource & Policy, Quantitative, Marketing, Management, and Potpourri. Potpourri questions are not always related to agricultural economics but can include questions about pop culture, history, or information about the city or state that the conference is being held in.
I joined the quiz bowl team as a freshman in the department, and my time spent studying for and practicing quiz bowl proved extremely helpful with my classes, as the concepts covered in quiz bowl questions are pulled from the courses taught in Food & Resource Economics (FRE). Conversely, as I took more courses in the department, I strengthened my knowledge of the material that was tested in the quiz bowl.
In addition to the opportunities for travel and building agricultural economics knowledge, competing in quiz bowl provides several chances for networking with faculty and students from other schools. I have personally made several connections with students from all over the country and have also had opportunities to speak with faculty from other universities about graduate school options. I am also very excited to be serving as the 2023-2024 President of the Student Section of AAEA (SS-AAEA) and look forward to seeing what my officer team and I accomplish in the coming year.
The contest this year had a great turnout, with 32 teams from over 20 universities competing. UF brought two teams, and my team tied for 5th place with a team from Texas A&M University, which we were very pleased with.
Our team begins weekly practice during the Spring semester, with our first contest of the year being in February at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association conference. We meet more often during the summer months to prepare for AAEA. Quiz bowl can be taken as an elective for FRE or be taken for no credit.
Competing on the UF Agricultural Economics Quiz Bowl team has been a great opportunity for me, and I highly recommend that other students in the department consider joining!
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