For the fourth year in a row, a Westerville City Schools middle school has won the Central Ohio 6th and 7th Grade Battle of the Books competition. The contest took place at the Whitehall Community Center on May 14. Student representatives from each of Westerville’s four middle schools competed, along with other Central Ohio teams from Bexley, Canal Winchester, Groveport-Madison, Hamilton, New Albany-Plain Local, Olentangy, St. Brigid of Kildare, and Whitehall.
Teams buzzed in with correct answers about titles from the 20-book list in a Jeopardy-style contest. An on-site creative writing workshop was also available to teams. The event was sponsored by the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio and the National Football League Alumni Group of Central Ohio (NFLAGCO), with district support from each middle school and the Language Arts and Gifted Education departments.
The purpose of the competition was to celebrate readers and the joy of reading. Westerville readers earned high honors and were presented awards from Calvin Murray, a former Ohio State Buckeye football MVP, Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears running back, and a member of the NFLAGCO.
Out of 19 teams, Walnut Springs won 1st place; Genoa was 3rd, Blendon 5th, and Heritage 7th. Special medals were awarded to students who read all 20 competition books – Gabby Freshly and Tasha Carr of Blendon; Kathryn Shaffer of Genoa; and Cassady Doel, Marin Kalista, Nya Olmsted, and Amanda Hurt of Walnut Springs.
Competitors enjoyed a pizza party and book discussions following the award ceremony.