Perham Knowledge Bowl team takes fifth at state meet

Perham High School’s Knowledge Bowl team came home from Cragun’s Resort in Brainerd with something the Yellowjackets can point to for years: a fifth-place finish at the Minnesota state meet.

The result, earned April 9-10, put Perham among the state’s stronger academic programs and added another milestone to a team that has spent the past few years building back toward Minnesota’s best. The state field is not small-time competition. Senior high Knowledge Bowl teams are made up of five students, and 48 teams advance to the state meet after working through a format that includes one written round and three to four oral rounds.

Perham’s state qualifiers were Clodarl Seeman, Faith Kalina, Tessa Starzl, Oliver Ollmann, Drew Moser, Lilliana Shippee and Amelie Deisz. Together, they represented a program that has been tested against demanding opposition all season, including Moorhead, Detroit Lakes and Alexandria, schools the district identified as AAA-level post-season programs during the regular season.

The fifth-place finish also reflects the structure around the team. Perham-Dent Public Schools thanked head coach Matt Lamb and assistant coach Nick Stokke for their leadership, and the district noted that Head Coach Kasey Wacker was named Section 6A Coach of the Year. For a team that depends on quick recall, teamwork and breadth of knowledge, that kind of coaching support matters. It is also a sign that academic competition has become part of the Yellowjackets’ identity, not just an occasional add-on to the school year.

Perham’s latest state showing builds on a recent run for the program. The Yellowjackets returned to the Knowledge Bowl state competition in 2024 for the first time since the 1990s, when Robert Tangen coached Perham teams to state trips. That history gives this spring’s finish added weight: it is not just a single good result, but evidence that Perham has re-established itself as a school that can compete with Minnesota’s elite academic teams and stay there.