Westerville Central and Westerville South high schools took top honors against central Ohio teams in the Ohio Capital Conference Battle of the Books competition. WCHS won the event while WSHS placed third.
WSHS’ team had previously won the annual competition for four consecutive years. For WCHS, it was the school’s first time winning the event.
“As a graduating senior, I was thrilled to finish off my Battle of the Books years with a win,” said Alyssa Boyd, co-captain of WCHS’ Battle of the Books team. “The fact that we were able to achieve first place in only our second year of competition reflects the level of dedication that we have on the team.”
She attributes their success to team collaboration, competition strategies and hours of afterschool practice. She also credited senior Barbara Darius, who composed hundreds of practice questions and recalled small details from the many books that she read.
“Everyone on the team was passionate about what they read and we would often have animated discussions about the books,” Boyd said.
As part of the annual Battle of the Books event on April 14, high school teams are given 29 books to read throughout the school year before facing off in a question/answer competition against teams within their conference.