The student-chapter of the California Chiropractic Association (SCCA) at Palmer College’s West campus in San Jose, California, earned multiple awards at the recent CCA Convention in San Diego – including a victory in the inaugural CalChiro Quiz Bowl.
The Quiz Bowl was scheduled to include all three California chiropractic colleges. However, it ended up as a dual between the SCCA teams from Palmer West and Southern California University of Health Sciences (SCUHS).
The competition consisted of approximately three-dozen questions varying in topic from chiropractic history and philosophy to basic science and diagnostics. Teams earned points for correct answers – and incorrect answers resulted in point-deductions.
Palmer West’s SCCA team featured executive officers (and 5th Quarter classmates) Adrian Galindo (secretary), Ryan Deighan (vice president-membership) and Tony Lam (treasurer/assistant event coordinator).
“Since this was the first (Quiz Bowl), we didn’t know what to expect. This was nerve-wracking at first; however, as the event progressed, it was great to see that even as 5th Quarter students, we’ve already learned so much from our time at Palmer,” said Galindo, from Hollister, Calif., who also serves an executive officer of the West Campus Sports Council.
“Representing Palmer West at the CalChiro Quiz Bowl was an amazing experience. It started off extremely intimidating, being the face of Palmer West in a room filled with accomplished doctors and individuals with prestigious accolades,” said Lam, who grew up just a few miles from the West campus in Union City.
“However, as the competition continued, and we slowly inched ahead of our competition, that initial fear diminished, and composure took its place. As the contest came to a close, with Palmer West in the lead, our team felt an overwhelming sense of fulfillment, and we shared in the pride of representing Palmer West!”
“The SCUHS team had finished the majority of their program, which was a bit intimidating for us, as lower-quarter students. However, we approached the competition with a positive mindset, and played with a strategy to avoid any negative points that could lower our team-score,” said Deighan, a member of the Palmer West hockey team who left the east coast (Pawtucket, R.I.) for the west.
“Overall, our team’s participation in the CalChiro Bowl provided a great opportunity to meet other students and network with doctors, tap into the chiropractic knowledge we’ve built during our first year at Palmer West, and, most important, make our school proud!”
“Adrian, Ryan and Tony did an excellent job competing against the Southern California University of Health Sciences students, and came out the winners of CalChiro’s first Chiro Quiz Bowl,” said Jessica Wolstenholm, CCA membership director.
“I was excited to see Dr. Meeker show his support for the West students at the Quiz Bowl. I could see that he was very proud of the hard work that his students put into the event.”
