Student team from RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf wins 2024 College Bowl championship

A come-from-behind victory sweetened the win for the four-member student team from RIT's NTID at this summer’s College Bowl tournament in Chicago. This is the seventh time that an RIT/NTID student team has won the national question-and-answer competition, which consists of topics including arts and literature, history and government, geography, science, technology and nature, sports and leisure, Deaf heritage and culture, entertainment, current events, and mathematics.

The team beat Gallaudet University in the finals.

Chang-May Tan, a biomedical sciences major from Fremont, Calif., said the competition was intense, but optimism and unwavering support from the RIT and NTID community helped the team win by one point.

“One of my favorite questions that we got right was Kinshasa being the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo and answering Seurat and Mondrian when given pictures of artwork,” said Tan. “It was overall such an incredible experience and I’m so glad to be part of this opportunity with the team and RIT/NTID.”

A biennial tradition since 1988, College Bowl is a spirited academic event that brings together Deaf contestants from top colleges and universities serving Deaf, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, Hard of Hearing, and Late-Deafened students. The College Bowl competition spans four days, with the difficulty of the questions increasing incrementally throughout the matches.

Coffey King, an accounting major from Capitol Heights, Md., said “the experience was awesome and the win was so marvelous. I’m glad I had the honor to represent both RIT and NTID.”

Other members of the team were Emma Kane, a public policy major from Rochester, N.Y, and Ryker D’Angelo, an English major from St. Augustine, Fla.

The team is coached by Christopher Kurz, professor in the Master of Science in Secondary Education program, and James Munro, associate director of admissions and data operations.

“I’m super proud of the way the team pulled together, studied hard, and represented NTID well,” said Munro. “It was clear that their strong team chemistry allowed them to be patient and to come through with a victory at the end. I appreciate the support of our NTID community and all players that were involved.”

Added Kurz: “Our team earned the victory through hard work, belief in one another, and a shared commitment to excellence and enjoyment. They loved to elevate each other by drilling and competing. The team had a veteran’s wisdom and calmness and the fresh energy of youth, and they came together to bring the trophy back.”

The first-place team wins $4,000 for a college’s scholarship fund and the silver College Bowl trophy displayed for two years.