Middle School students from five area schools competed for top honors at academic contests held on Tuesday, May 23rd at Maple Valley School in Sandusky. Students in grades four through eight whom have competed on teams throughout the school year at monthly tournaments held by the Thumb Area Quiz Bowl League competed individually for championship and runner-up trophies in six academic areas and at a quiz bowl bee where the top five contestants went home with trophies.
The students came from Almont, Marlette, Brown City, Carsonville-Port Sanilac and Sandusky. They were treated to a pizza and pop luncheon prior to the competitions which wrapped by at 4:00pm. Approximately 100 students took part.
With a total of thirty-nine trophies up for grabs at the tournament, Sandusky took home 13 with CPS coming in second with 11. Marlette won 9 trophies with Almont winning 4 and Brown City with 2. The big winner of the day, who won the Champion of Champions trophy was Jacob Sanderson, an eighth grader at Sandusky Jr-Sr High who had first place wins in Science, Current Events and for the 8th grade class BS 2nd place win for the Michigan category.
There was a three-way tie for runner -up for the day with Marlette’s Sydney Vaughn (6th grade), CPS’s Isabella Smith-Corso (6th grade) and 8th grader from Sandusky, Seth Beagle.
The students came from Almont, Marlette, Brown City, Carsonville-Port Sanilac and Sandusky. They were treated to a pizza and pop luncheon prior to the competitions which wrapped by at 4:00pm. Approximately 100 students took part.
With a total of thirty-nine trophies up for grabs at the tournament, Sandusky took home 13 with CPS coming in second with 11. Marlette won 9 trophies with Almont winning 4 and Brown City with 2. The big winner of the day, who won the Champion of Champions trophy was Jacob Sanderson, an eighth grader at Sandusky Jr-Sr High who had first place wins in Science, Current Events and for the 8th grade class BS 2nd place win for the Michigan category.
There was a three-way tie for runner -up for the day with Marlette’s Sydney Vaughn (6th grade), CPS’s Isabella Smith-Corso (6th grade) and 8th grader from Sandusky, Seth Beagle.
The top five in the Quiz Bwol Bee were as follows: Champion:Heather Williford (Sandusky), Runner-up: Alex Liang (Marlette, 3rd place: Sydney Vaughn (Marlette), 4th place: Devin Jones (Almont) and 5th place: Eli Price (CPS).
According to League Director Bruce Irland, “You can really see where the high school quiz bowl programs will be strongest in the future from this event. Both Marlette and CPS now have strong 4th grade students taking part, while Sandusky appears to have a strong 8th grade class going on to high school next year. Schools that tend to have strong middle school quiz bowl programs also tend to do well when it comes to high school competitions. We certainly have some very talented academic students in Sanilac County,” according to Irland. He went on the say that” I am very pleased with the addition of 4th grade students to our tournaments. I was actually blown away by some of their performances throughout the school year.”
The Thumb Area Quiz Bowl League provides academic competitions for students from a five county area in grades 4-12. The high school league will pick back up with weekly tournaments in October while the middle school league holds monthly tournaments from November through May.
The TAQBL was formed by Bruce Irland in 2000. For more information,contact him at quizbowlguy@gamail.com. Photographs from the Quiz Bowl Bee and the Tournament of Champions can also be found at the Thumb Area Quiz Bowl League’s facebook page.
The TAQBL was formed by Bruce Irland in 2000. For more information,contact him at quizbowlguy@gamail.com. Photographs from the Quiz Bowl Bee and the Tournament of Champions can also be found at the Thumb Area Quiz Bowl League’s facebook page.
