South Putnam English team takes third in state finals

Monday, May 9, 2011

WEST LAFAYETTE -- The South Putnam English team captured third place in the state finals of the 2011 Indiana Academic Super Bowl competition Saturday at Purdue University.

The SPHS team, composed of teammates Rachel Jervis, Jessica Maginity and Chelsea Modglin, placed only behind Class 3 state champion Union County High School from Liberty and runner-up Forest Park High School from Ferdinand.

The English team was one of four Putnam County academic teams that earned trips to the 24th annual super bowl. Also representing South Putrnam in Saturday's state event, the fine arts and interdisciplinary teams did not place in the top three in their competitions.

The same was true for Greencastle High School's English team, which had tied South Putnam with 17 points in the April 19 area competition (behind only eventual state champion Union County) but did not place at Saturday's event at West Lafayette.

Meanwhile, for the third straight year, the Indiana Association of School Principals (IASP) is recognizing the Top 10 teams in each enrollment class, based on the cumulative scores of all six rounds at the Area Competition. With their overall showing in the area event, both South Putnam and Greencastle earned the Top 10 designation for 2011.

The other eight schools so honored in Class 3 were: Benton Central High School, Oxford; Cardinal Ritter High School, Indianapolis; Churubusco High School; North Judson-San Pierre High School; North Judson; Park Tudor School, Indianapolis; Taylor High School, Kokomo; Union County High School, Liberty; and Wapahani High School, Selma. No individual numerical ranking was announced.

South Putnam's three-team state finals contingent was the most in school history and tied SPHS with Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter for the most finalist teams in this year's Class 3 competition.

Teacher Tona Gardner coaches the SPHS English team, while Kurt Scott coaches the Fine Arts group. Interdisciplinary is a joint effort of all the coaches.

Other South Putnam team members competing in the state finals were Sam Schlatter, Nicole Hurst, Sam Gould, Emma Young and Kandra Johnson.

Teacher Nicole Kempf, who has taken several Greencastle teams to the state finals, coaches the GHS English team. GHS team members appearing in the state finals competition were senior Lauren Kenney, junior Alice Moore and freshman Hanna Gellman.

Kathryn Dory is the overall Academic Super Bowl coordinator for Greencastle, which has a history of sending teams to the state finals dating back to the first year of competition in 1987. In earning 12 state titles overall, GHS has had a rich history of academic competition success, including four times in which the Tiger Cubs captured two titles the same year (1991, 1993, 1994 and 1998).

The Academic Super Bowl is a statewide competition focusing on English, math, social studies, science and fine arts. In addition to the five subject areas, a sixth round of competition known as interdisciplinary includes questions from each subject area.

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