Preparing for districtwide contest quite a challenge

Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Monday, March 08, 2010

Teams of students square off to answer core-content questions. Each round's winner advances until a champion is crowned. (Photo: FILES / Tammy L. Lane)

When nearly 2,000 elementary school students and their families come together for the district’s Academic Challenge series three times a year, it takes an army of volunteers working behind the scenes to keep the focus on kids and make the day-long competition a rewarding experience for everyone.

“I just want them to think academics can be fun – just as exciting as an overtime basketball game,” said Pam Shunk, the PSA at Northern Elementary, who has helped for about five years.

Andrea Downs, the PSA at Garden Springs Elementary; Cari Boyd, the PSA at William Wells Brown Elementary; Alice Nelson, the school district’s family/community liaison; and Shunk work alongside the community group One Community, One Voice to spearhead preparations and coordinate The Invitational, the Principals’ Cup and the Superintendent’s Cup.

“We have a lot of families that come, and the kids feed off that,” said Downs, who records the scores and updates the brackets during the single-elimination contests. “It pushes them to do their best.”

Downs also lines up the moderators. Since the Academic Challenge has flourished and grown from about 150 students in 2004 to some 1,500 competitors this year, it now takes about 100 room moderators for each competition.

This year, a different group of elementary schools is taking turns hosting the contests, accepting responsibility for sending 10 volunteers apiece to serve as moderators, set-up crews, greeters and miscellaneous helpers.

“The kids get really excited when they see their principal or their teachers there,” Shunk said.

For the planners, the work really begins months in advance. They network with the schools’ academic team coordinators, who in turn oversee the teachers and parents who sign on to coach the multiple teams.

The district organizers also must prepare the questions, which are correlated with Kentucky’s core content material; each contest requires about 150 questions per level (primary and intermediate).

Myriad other little details must be handled before contest time, such as mapping out which teams will square off in which classrooms.

In the end, the planners say, it’s all worth it.

“We spend that whole day showcasing academics and what our kids can do,” Boyd said. “It’s just a phenomenal program.” 

If you go

Academic Challenge Superintendent’s Cup

What: Team competition that encourages youngsters to get excited about academics

When: 8 a.m. Saturday March 13

Where: Tates Creek High School, 1111 Centre Parkway

Contact: Alice Nelson, family/community liaison for FCPS, (859) 381-4307  

The back story

The Academic Challenge program – organized by Fayette County Public Schools and One Community, One Voice – is open to all students in grades 2-5. The goal is to create a culture that encourages children to embrace scholastic excellence, gives students opportunities to compete in rigorous academic contests, and involves parents in their kids’ education.

The annual series includes three Saturday competitions: The Invitational, the Principals’ Cup and the Superintendent’s Cup. The program has two divisions: primary (grades 2-3) and intermediate (grades 4-5). Most schools field several teams, each with four to six students.

In competition, three teams square off at a time. A moderator reads a question, and the children have 45 seconds to confer and write their team’s answer on a white board. Each round has 20 questions, and the winning team advances to the next round.

Medals go to the first-, second- and third-place teams. In addition, all the participants get an academic excellence certificate for their hard work and commitment. In the Superintendent’s Cup, the winners receive trophies and college scholarships.

2009-2010 schedule:

Each competition begins at 8 a.m. at Tates Creek High School.