The Scholastic Bowl hosted by Genesee Valley BOCES gives students in grades 9 through 12 a forum in which to demonstrate their intellectual excellence and to receive recognition. Students are given the opportunity to interact with academically talented students from other districts.
This year's teams that participated in the competition were Elba Central School, Byron-Bergen Central School, Pembroke Central School, Alden Central School, Notre Dame Central School, Pavilion Central School, Alexander Central School, Batavia Central School, Akron Central School, Attica Central School, LeRoy Central School, and Oakfield-Alabama Central School. Teams competed against each other for six weeks, and then the top three teams advanced to the finals.
"One of the reasons we run programs like Scholastic Bowl is we want to give kids a way to connect with other classmates and be ambassadors for their school in ways beyond athletics," explained Steve Nole, Coordinator of Enrichment Services at Genesee Valley BOCES.
During the competition, students were asked questions that demanded a quick recall of facts from all academic areas, as well as general knowledge, current events, sports, and the arts. Each competition consisted of three rounds, and all questions had a 10-point value.
This year, teams from Elba, Batavia, and Pavilion met for the final competition. Round one consisted of a 9-minute toss-up, round two a one-minute lightning round, and round three was a six-minute toss-up. This year the winner with a score of 300 was Elba. Pavilion came in second with a score of 290, and Batavia came in third with a score of 240.
Ian Keberle is one of three seniors who competed for Elba. Ian explained that the preparation for the competition is a lot of fun and he enjoys all the work that goes into it. "My favorite part is the pace of the event and I had great teammates too,” said Ian.
The coach of Elba Central School is Aaron Balko, who has been coaching for six years and helped rebuild the program in recent years. "I really enjoy spending time with everyone and the comradery they develop as a team is what I enjoy. I feel like a lot of focus is put on athletics, which is great, but academics should be celebrated as well," explained Balko.
Congratulations to all the teams that participated this year! The hard work paid off, and Genesee Valley BOCES looks forward to next year's competition.
Elba CSD Scholastic Bowl Champions
Batavia CSD Scholastic Bowl participants.
Pavilion Scholastic Bowl participants.
