The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) is thrilled to announce that it will once again host the popular College Bowl competition during the 52nd Biennial NAD Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, July 1-5, 2014. Held at every NAD Conference since 1988, College Bowl is a spirited academic bowl style event that brings together deaf contestants from top colleges and universities serving deaf and hard of hearing students. Teams of four students from each school vie for the coveted trophy and scholarships.
Traditionally, three “legacy” schools have participated in College Bowl: Gallaudet University (Washington, D.C.), National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY), and California State University at Northridge (Northridge, CA). In 2012, for the first time, we expanded our competition to six teams with three new entries from: University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN), Southwest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf (Big Spring, TX), and University of Texas (Austin, TX). The NAD is welcomes more universities and colleges to join the competition in Atlanta, Georgia. The NAD invites any college or university that includes a sizeable deaf and hard of hearing student population to apply to participate as a College Bowl team.
A biennial tradition since 1988, the energetic College Bowl competition brings together young and smart deaf college students for a lively competition that spans over four days with preliminary and final matches. College Bowl players have become lawyers, scientists, teachers and important advocates of the deaf and hard of hearing community. They exemplify what it takes to be an intellectual leader in the community, and the exciting competition draws over 1,000 audience members at the final match! The College Bowl Finals will take place in the evening of Thursday, July 3, 2014.
“As a deaf student from a school as big as the University of Texas, the College Bowl competition brings together other students like me from all over the country. It makes the world feel more familiar and I love engaging in friendly competition(s) with my peers!,” said Christy Hediger, 2012 University of Texas College Bowl player.
The College Bowl competition is open to teams of deaf and hard of hearing full-time undergraduate students who are currently enrolled in junior colleges or four-year colleges/universities. All members on a team must attend the same college or university. Each college/university is eligible to send one team. Each College Bowl teams consists of four team members, an alternate team member, and one or two coaches. The College Bowl program will include preliminary competitions during the NAD conference leading to the final event on July 3rd. For further reading, you can find the 2014 College Bowl Rules and Guidelines available online. For questions, please contact Allie Rice, Coordinator of Youth Leadership Programs. To fill out the preliminary team application, go online. The preliminary team application deadline is February 15, 2014.
“The College Bowl (CoBo) program continues to thrive because of the superb quality of the CoBo players and coaches, as well as the tremendous support of the deaf and hard of hearing community for this wonderful event,” said NAD President Chris Wagner.
The NAD was established in 1880 by deaf leaders who believed in the right of the American deaf community to use sign language, to congregate on issues important to them, and to have its interests represented at the national level. As a nonprofit federation, the mission of the NAD is to preserve, protect, and promote the civil, human, and linguistic rights of deaf and hard of hearing people in the United States. The advocacy scope of the NAD is broad, covering the breadth of a lifetime and impacting future generations in the areas of early intervention, education, employment, health care, technology, telecommunications, youth leadership, and more.
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Photo above: Six CoBo teams at the 2012 NAD Conference in Louisville, KY.