Local academic teams advance to state finals

A state title will be within reach for two Putnam County Academic Super Bowl teams on Saturday, May 5.

Not only did the South Putnam fine arts and Greencastle social studies teams win the local Class 3 competitions at Greencastle High School last Tuesday, the teams' scores put them just one point behind the state's top finishers in class.

The South Putnam fine arts team of Kandra Johnson, Emma Young, Carlee Schlatter, Cora Neudeck and Vanessa Thompson finished with 16 points, just one point off the pace of Class 3 top seed Seeger.

The Eagles are coached by Kurt Scott.

Likewise, the GHS social studies team of Cy Spencer and Fred Soster, under the direction of Glenn Hile, compiled 17 points. The score was a point behind North Judson-San Pierre and Taylor high schools.

The teams advance to Purdue University for the May 5 state finals competition.

Greencastle High School hosted the April 17 regional competition, with 20 nearby schools and more than 400 students from west central Indiana. The theme of this year's competition was Colonial America.

All four Putnam County schools compete in Class 3, with a local school taking the top spot in five of the six areas of competition. Greencastle was the regional leader in science (20 points) and English (14 points). North Putnam was the pacesetter in math with 16 points.

South Vermillion won the regional interdisciplinary competition.

Schools are divided into four classes based on school size. Each school was represented in the competition by as many as five people on a subject area squad with as many as 30 students representing the school on the various squads.

All scores for local schools are listed below:

Cloverdale: Fine arts, 8; Social studies, 7; Science, 11; Math, 11; English, 9; Interdisciplinary, 10.

Greencastle: Fine arts, 13; Social studies, 17; Science, 20; Math, 12; English, 14; Interdisciplinary, 11.

North Putnam: Science, 19; Math, 16.

South Putnam: Fine arts, 16; Social studies, 7; Science 15; Math, 7; English, 9; Interdisciplinary, 12.