A team of four recent Kennesaw State graduates won first place at the 12th annual American College of Sports Medicine Student Bowl in Orlando, Florida in May.
Soon after graduating from KSU with degrees in exercise science, Kayla Alesi, Joy Tankersley, Emma Chorney and Ally Kuntz competed in one of 13 teams at the ACSM Student Bowl, answering Jeopardy-style questions pertaining to sports medicine and exercise science.
“I’m extremely proud,” said Dr. Yuri Feito, the team’s faculty advisor and an associate professor of exercise science. “They worked hard and they earned it.”
The team was invited to the national student bowl after winning in the ACSM Southeast Regional competition in South Carolina in February. The four students came in first out of 39 total teams in the regional competition. This year was only the second time that KSU has made it to the national student bowl since the team was created approximately eight years ago.
“We compete every year at the regional conference and I always tell our team that I just want them to enjoy the conference and get the experience of participating, but first place feels really nice,” Feito said.
The original KSU team that competed in the regional competition also consisted of students Copelyn Jue and Josh Jones, but the two recently began their physical therapy doctoral program and were unable to attend the national student bowl. Chorney and Kuntz were later chosen to take over the vacant positions on the team.
“It was a great opportunity, so I was really excited to be asked to join the team,” Kuntz said. “I didn’t hesitate to say yes.“
The quiz bowl is part of an annual ACSM meeting held in Florida where more than 6,000 industry professionals from around the world travel to speak about the latest in the realms of exercise science and sports medicine. This gives students competing in the national bowl an opportunity to meet and network with leading professionals in the field and learn more about the industry.
“Being a part of the quiz bowl team was such a great experience that opened up a lot of opportunities for me,” Tankersley said. “I loved being able to represent Kennesaw State well and make our professors proud.”
