The De Soto High School Scholars Bowl team has a history of excellence. The last three years, the team has gone to and won the State championship. But as the years go by, team members graduate. This year only one member of the previous team that went to State will be returning. Despite this drawback, head coach Phillip Hamilton is optimistic.

“I really don’t know for sure, because we’ve only had two practices, but I feel pretty good that we are going to have a good team that will meet its potential,” Hamilton said.

Besides the graduating members of the state team, the Scholars Bowl team is doing well.

“Well, right now, we have had 30 members come to our initial informational meeting, and we have had over 20 members at practice. I imagine once fall activites end, we will have 20 to 25 members at the varsity level and around 15 for junior varsity. I hope to have 35 to 40 all together, but we won’t know until the other fall activities end,” Hamilton said.

The Scholars Bowl State competition takes place the second weekend in February, and their first meet is on October 22, 2013.

Despite being several practices in already, Scholars Bowl accepts new members at almost any time.

“We’ve got a long season ahead of us, and if anybody wants to join they still can at any time,” Hamilton said.