Team

A Team

Nevin Hotson
At 2005's Provincial finals, Grade 9 Nevin Hotson was the youngest member of the team, but his often-astonishing knowledge of science and words proved invaluable. He also represented Lisgar at the 2005 Great Canadian Geography Challenge. In 2006, he continued his spectacular trivia performance, becoming the highest-scoring junior at the NAQT Sectionals. In 2007, he was a solid lieutenant to captain James Cooper, ranking 179th at the US Nationals. Now the captain, he was the highest-scoring player at the Ottawa Quizbowl, and hopes to break the team's television losing streak. He is also Mission Commander for the Ottawa-Carleton Educational Space Simulation and an avid clarinet player and runner, as well as being de facto webmaster.

Jeffrey Gao
One of the younger members of the team, Jeff is in his third year, and his knowledge in math, sports, and literature has been useful to the team. Besides that, he is very active in math competitions and was the Lisgar school champion for the 2005 Pascal Contest, while scoring highest in Ottawa. Currently studying five languages, Jeff is also a club head of the Ottawa-Carleton Educational Space Simulation, while also being a devoted pianist and cross-country runner.

Chris Greenwood

Celia Byrne

B Team

Alex Coculuzzi

Coach

B>Tamara Vardomskaya
Tamara could not make it to her first scheduled Reach practice, asking a friend to put her name down for her. But she made it to many more, becoming the only Grade 9 on the senior team, and helping make Lisgar a fixture at the Provincial finals in later years, placing 3rd in 2001, 7th in 2002, and 5th in 2003. She became a NAQT player at the University of Ottawa. As well as being the top Canadian player in Division II at the National Intercollegiate Championship Tournament in 2005, this year she has led her team to the Division I Eastern Canada Championship and her second National ICT on April 7, placing 10th overall individual in her division, at the top of the Canadian delegation yet again. Outside of trivia, she is currently studying mathematics and linguistics at the University of Ottawa, and is a research assistant in language acquisition for the university's Department of Modern Languages. Her extracurricular interests are many, but chief among them are dance, music, aikido, literature, and design. In the future, she hopes to pursue graduate degrees in both her chosen disciplines, write science fiction, and learn to tango.

Teacher Advisor

Ruth Crabtree
Ruth Crabtree was one of four teachers who agreed to help revive a Reach for the Top team at Lisgar, back in 2000. The other three have moved on to other locations / careers and she is now left with the honour / responsibility(?) of being a coach / teacher-supervisor for this very successful team. She has been teaching Geography and History for 32 years, in England and Canada, and is currently Head of the Canadian and World Studies, Social Sciences and Humanities, and Co-op Department at Lisgar Collegiate. She also supervises the school environmental club (LEAF) and the girls’ hockey team. In her (limited!) spare time she likes to travel, garden, cycle, read mysteries and play trivia, though she readily admits to not matching the team's level of play except for the occasional British, or music of the ‘60s and ‘70s questions!