“This president gave his only campaign speech to placate a rival faction at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. This president received a personal request by one man to be appointed to a ‘Paris consulship’ —”

Buzz.

“Mary Elise Sarotte’s recent history of this organization, ‘Not One Inch,’ takes its title from a question asked by James Baker that was later interpreted to be a pledge —” 

Buzz.

“A trip centering around this activity in Germany drives the plot of the sequel to Jerome K. Jerome’s ‘Three Men in a Boat’ —”

Buzz.

For many, our responses to these clues — especially in a timed setting — would be “I don’t know” or a random guess at best. But Emmett Chung (12) has practiced and studied to answer them, gathering knowledge from years of scrolling through Wikipedia pages and creating Quizlet sets on topics ranging from opera to modern artists. 

Before the moderator can finish reading the questions, Emmett already has the correct answers: James Garfield, NATO and bicycling. 

Emmett currently serves as the president of Harker’s Quiz Bowl team. A team-based competition similar to jeopardy, Quiz Bowl asks questions on various academic or pop culture subjects, and participants can buzz in with a response. 

Throughout Emmett’s five years with Quiz Bowl, he has come to appreciate the team aspect of the competition, which he considers similar to a team sport. Quiz Bowl also allows Emmett to apply the information that he’s learned in school and independently to an activity he enjoys. Over the past five years, Emmett has also grown as a contestant, realizing that success takes effort and dedication. 

“There’s a lot of individual aspects to Quiz Bowl,” Emmett said. “When I started out, I ended up being quite overconfident because I did know a lot at the beginning. But, of course, that didn’t mean I knew everything. I ended up having to study and practice more, so that was a good lesson there: even if you start off already good at something, that doesn’t mean you don’t need to work more.”

Gordon Chen (12), who encouraged Emmett to join Quiz Bowl in eighth grade, has competed alongside him ever since. Even through years of practices and contest days, Gordon finds these sessions fun, because Emmett’s infectious energy spreads to the rest of the team. 

“We’ve gone on weekend trips to local tournaments and longer trips to Chicago and Atlanta, and those periods of extended time together are some of my favorite memories,” Gordon said. “I don’t really think of [Quiz Bowl] as working with him, we’re just friends doing something that we both care about. Being with him and the team, on Wednesday afternoons and weekends, are the best times ever. He is the best overall.”

Emmett’s original interest and knack for Quiz Bowl stemmed from his passion as a historian. He particularly enjoyed learning history in middle school and spent much of his time reading Wikipedia, still a favorite website. Though he initially thought of history as just facts, after taking AP European History in sophomore year, Emmett realized that history is also a means of storytelling. 

“[Studying history] is less about the actual information in the actual story, and a lot more about the way you try to tell that story and the ways you try to explain things, or the way you try to form a narrative that focuses on certain things,” Emmett said. “Really, what history ends up being, rather than recitation of facts, is a lot of different ways of trying to tell a story, and that’s a lot more stimulating.”

Emmett continues to further his interest through his participation in the Near Mitra historical research program, as well as his managing editor position for Harker Herald, a history journal. His strong foundation in the subject also led to an interest in politics, which allows him to engage with and try to understand viewpoints different from his own. 

Upper school history teacher Byron Stevens, who taught Emmett’s AP European History class and has worked with him for the Harker Herald and Quiz Bowl, has observed Emmett’s growth as a leader and historical scholar. 

“He’s a really dependable, thoughtful and effective leader,” Stevens said. “He’s both a good researcher and scholar in his own right, and he organizes other people in these intellectual pursuits.” 

As a person and friend, Emmett is social and energetic. Believing that humans are “inherently social” creatures, he enjoys developing relationships and holding conversations with others.

“His persona is definitely someone who’s able to make a conversation out of anything,” close friend Austina Xu (12) said. “Even if it’s just you and him, there will never be a dull moment, and you won’t have to worry about it being awkward, because he’ll be able to start a very natural, effortless and funny interaction.”

In his day-to-day life, Emmett tries to treat everyone with empathy, stepping into their shoes and keeping their lives and situations in mind. And when learning new topics, he aims to have an open mind as well, speaking up when he’s unfamiliar with something. 

“I genuinely think it’s always fine to say, ‘I don’t know,’ or ‘I changed my mind,’” Emmett said. “One of the things that I never want to get myself into is backing myself into a corner for a position that I might not fully understand or believe. If I don’t have an opinion on something, or if I don’t know enough about something to have an opinion, I’m not going to try and pretend that I do. I don’t mind admitting that I don’t know something.”

Emmett applies this open mind to both opinions and people. Especially when traveling, Emmett seeks to continue expanding his worldview and learning about the cultures around him. During a recent trip to Italy, his interactions with the locals left a profound impact on him, far more than the tourist attractions he visited.

“[I try] to be open about a lot of things and broaden my worldview, no matter what,” Emmett said. “When you try to be more open and recognize that there’s value in the ways that other people might live their lives, you learn a lot about things that otherwise you might not get. I really try to take this attitude, even on vacation, to always, ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do.’”