COSLHS hosts Middle School Scholar Bowl

On Thursday, March 10, Christ Our Savior Lutheran High School hosted students from 10 area schools in its eighth annual Middle School Scholar Bowl.

Participating schools were Evansville Attendance Center, St. Mark's Lutheran (Steeleville), St. John's Lutheran (Red Bud), St. John Lutheran (Chester), Christ Lutheran (Jacob), St. John the Baptist (Red Bud), Immanuel Lutheran (Murphysboro), TrinityLutheran (Prairie), Sparta Lincoln, and Prairie Du Rocher.

"It's exciting to host this day to highlight the academic excellence of our schools," said COSLHS Principal John Christman. "Academic competition fits in with who we are as a school. Athletes are not the only ones who can be celebrated for their 'wins.'

"Congratulations to all the students, parents and teachers who worked hard to prepare for this day."

Grades six through eight participated in math, science, spelling, and social studies competitions beginning at 10 a.m. and continuing until 2 p.m., when successful teams were announced.

The spelling and social studies bees were non-eliminating over a course of rounds to determine top teams from competing schools.

The science and math bowls were computer-based competitions. At the end of the day, recognition for best performances was given to four schools for excellence in subject areas and three schools for overall achievement, while individuals are recognized for specific achievements in each contest.

Due to the even distribution of high-performing teams, the race for the overall trophy was tight and every point counted.

In the end, St. John's Lutheran Red Bud edged out Sparta Lincoln to take home the first place trophy.

Evansville Attendance Center also performed well, winding up in third place.

St. Mark's Lutheran was the top overall team in the Spelling Bee. In the sixth grade spelling bee, Kylie Ellner and Emma Durbin of Prairie du Rocher tied for first place with Trinity Glodo and Kadence Buckhorn of St. Mark's Lutheran.

Tying for top honors in the seventh grade spelling bee were Kyron Perry and Brenna Hartman from Sparta Lincoln, and Nick Chambers alongside Austin Grohman of St. John the Baptist Red Bud.

There was no tie in eighth grade spelling bee, however, as contestants Hannah Sochowski and Brie Luebkemann from Trinity Prairie distinguished themselves from the rest.

The highest scoring school for the Math bowl was Evansville Attendance Center, whose team members included Adrienne Carril, Anna Gaertner, Garrett Grau and Brianna Ledbetter.

While Prairie du Rocher and Sparta Lincoln were the top overall teams in Social Studies, recognition was also given to individual grade levels.

The sixth grade social studies bee saw a win for Sparta Lincoln, with Patrick and Kerry Kloos representing the class.

In the seventh grade social studies bee, there was a tie between St. Mark's, EAC, and Prairie du Rocher with Samantha and Megan Schulte representing St Mark's.

Grace Walter and Trenton Riecan from EAC; Alexis Mudd and Owen Bartosik from Prairie du Rocher.

The eighth grade bee was won by St. John Chester. Jenna Bierman and Adeline Blechle represented the eighth grade class.

The St. John's Red Bud team of Maddie Valerius, Ethan Fritsche, Adam Kiefer and Katie Schneider came in first in the Science Bowl.

It was COS sophomore Rachel Rehmer's second chance to host as a high school student and fourth overall experience at the COS Scholar bowl.

She said that "watching all the kids work together and learn was really cool."