Jefferson, Northwest, Andrews Win GCS Battle of the Books

Northwest Middle will represent

district at regional competition in April

"More than 900 students on 80 teams from across the county were put to the test in the 2014 Guilford County Schools’ Battle of the Books competition last week. The teams from Jefferson Elementary, Northwest Middle and Andrews High won first-place bragging rights for their schools. Northwest Middle will advance to the regional competition in April, where they will compete against 10 other counties. 

Battle of the Books is a reading incentive program that tests the knowledge of students using a “quiz bowl” format. Students read an assigned number of books and answer questions about them to earn points for their teams.

Fourth and fifth-graders are eligible to compete for their elementary school teams. The victorious Jefferson team was followed by Southern Elementary in second place and Jones Elementary in third place. 

The competition was tough, especially at the middle and high school levels. At the middle school competition, Brown Summit Middle and Aycock Middle fought for second place in tie-breaker round, with Brown Summit Middle eventually taking second and Aycock third.

At the high school level, Andrews High and Grimsley High maintained a one-point game until the last question of the day, when Andrews High pulled ahead to take first-place. Grimsley High landed in second and Page High took third.

Students from 49 elementary schools, 19 middle schools and 12 high schools took place in the competition at UNCG’s Elliott Center. At each level, students competed in preliminary competitions called divisions. The top two scoring teams in each elementary division and the top three teams in the middle and high school divisions advanced to the afternoon finals. In the finals, each team played every other team.

The GCS Library Media Services department organizes the event for the district, which asks teams to read and understand 12 assigned elementary books, 27 assigned middle school books or 15 assigned high school books."

Submitted Release from Nora Shoptaw