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GMS, South Putnam English teams bring home state titles
By ERIC BERNSEE
Editor
Three Putnam County schools displayed stellar academic skills in the recent Indiana Junior Academic Super Bowl with two bringing home state titles in the process.
Greencastle and South Putnam both captured middle school state championships in English while North Putnam put four of its five teams in the top 10 in the May 3 Indiana Association of School Principals-sponsored academic contest.
The Greencastle Middle School English team answered 20 of 25 questions correctly to win the Class 2 competition with Brown County and Delta middle schools next with 19 right answers.
Coached by Suzanne Funk, seventh-grade language arts teacher and Academic Super Bowl coach, members of the GMS English team were Callie Bailey, Taylor Cash, Ben Gellman, Susanna Howard and Addison Hughes.
"In case you didn't hear the squeals of excitement coming from our middle school," Funk told the Banner Graphic. "I have to share that our academic super bowl teams worked hard again this year, and came away with a first place in English, not only at the regional tournament, but they were also the state champions in our enrollment class."
South Putnam can say the same thing after capturing the middle school English title in Class 3.
South's English academic team consisted of seventh-graders Alex Faudree and Maddie Duvall and eighth-graders Savannah McIntosh, Jesse Robinson and Grace Sollman.
The young Eagles endured a rollercoaster of emotions, coach Caitlynn Bryan said, after posting a 20-of-25 score.
"We all felt pretty good about answering 20 of 25," she said. "We thought we'd at least place locally but when they read the placings for first, second and third, they didn't read our name. We thought, 'Wow, everybody must have really done well.'"
As it turned out, there was some kind of a scoring error and South Putnam not only won the local level but the state title as well.
"So the kids went from being really bummed," Bryan said, "to really, really excited.
"There were 45 schools in our division," the third-year academic coach added, "so we beat 44 other schools. We're obviously pretty proud."
She praised her team for working hard in study sessions that began once a week back in January.
"After spring break, we stepped it up to twice a week," Bryan noted. "That was them wanting to do more; that wasn't me. I even had one student who wanted to keep meeting now, even though the competition is over."
Meanwhile, at North Putnam, coach Randy Funk (yes, the husband of the GMS coach), and the Cougar faithful are celebrating their unprecedented accomplishment of getting four academic teams in the top 10 of Class 3 state competition.
North Putnam teams finished fourth in math with 16 points (Tell City won with 20), fifth in English with 16 points (to South's winning 20), seventh in science with 12 right answers (Whitko won with 14) and ninth in interdisciplinary with 15 points (Boone Grove had 19 to win).
South Putnam's science team, meanwhile, took eighth in the state. Coached by Tracey Heet, team members were Danton Glover, Olivia Boler, Israel Polster, Jared Seidler and Ryan Cole, all eighth-graders.
Randy Funk, who teaches eighth-grade science at North Putnam, coaches the English and science team, while Bradi Fielden mentors the math team and the two join Lori Baker in guiding the interdisciplinary squad.
"I can't remember a time when we ever had four teams in the top 10," Funk said. "We started back in January and the kids worked hard. We had very dedicated kids."
He often joked with them about the irony of their schedule.
"I'd kid them that 'they were coming in after school to study to take a test on a Saturday,'" Funk said.
Greencastle's interdisciplinary team took first at the regional, and was fourth in the state with 17 points, finishing behind champion West Lafayette with 19.
The GMS science team, led by first-time coach C.J. Shields, came away with a first at the regional, and was 11th in the state, missing the top 10 by only one question. Only three questions separated the state champs from the GMS team.
The GMS math team, after finishing first at the regional, was 15th in the state with only a three-question differential between first and the 15th. GMS answered 15 of 25 correctly, while state champion Western Midde School had 18 correct.
Other Greencastle team members were:
Interdisciplinary -- Ben Gellman, Taylor Cash, Callie Bailey, Susanna Howard, Ben Wilkerson, Sean Ramey and Connor Crary.
Science -- Ben Gellman, Addison Hughes, Mika Mozawa and Ben Wilkerson.
Math -- Mika Mozawa, Ben Wilkerson, Amy Gong, Sean Ramey and Michael White.
Social Studies -- Taylor Cash, Callie Bailey, Susanna Howard, Bethany Chaney and Esther Hale.
Members of the North Putnam teams were:
English -- Zach Koll, Dylan Kenworthy and Jarrek Montgomery.
Science -- Jonathon Kirby, Lily Rambis, Emily Fink and Zach Timm.
Math -- Abby Spencer, Darrin Tennis, Josie Lyons, Payton Myers, Emily Fink, Zach Koll, Jonathon Kirby and Kolten Thorson.
Social Studies -- Aidan Baker, Dylan Arnold, Dylan Kenworthy, Darrin Tennis and Jarrek Montgomery.