Jackson Progress-Argus

Photo by Rebecca Long

By Diane Glidewell

dglidewell@myjpa.com

There seemed to be almost as many buses arriving at Henderson Middle School at the end of the day on Sept. 30 as there were leaving.

Teams from 20 middle schools, including HMS, were readying to test their knowledge in all school subject areas against one another, in a district Academic Meet. This was the first opportunity Henderson has had to host an Academic Meet in about five years, according to Saleha Ahmed. Ahmed and Dede Rowland coach the HMS Academic Team. Ahmed teaches science, and Rowland teaches math at Henderson.

The Henderson team competes in the Griffin Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA) district, which includes schools from Butts, Fayette, Henry, Lamar, Newton, Pike, Spalding, and Upson counties. The competition teams are made up of five sixth-, seventh-, or eighth-graders with five alternates. Teams compete in three rounds, against three different schools, in each meet.

Alternates may be substituted in the middle of each round at the discretion of the coaches, except for one player who is designated team captain.

By 4:30 p.m., most of the teams had arrived. They assembled in the Henderson cafeteria where they had snacks to fortify them for the competition, which lasted until shortly after 8 p.m. Parents of the Henderson team sold pizza and drinks for those who did not bring their own food.

The Henderson parents also provided pizza and drinks for the volunteer readers and timers, who met in the Tiger Theater for instructions on rules before the competition began. Members of the HMS Student Council, dressed recognizably in black and white, were spaced inside and outside of the school to give directions and answer questions.

After being welcomed by Butts County Schools Superintendent Lynda White, Rowland, HMS Assistant Principal Dr. Earlene Crump, and Griffin RESA Coordinator Ophelia Mustang, the teams headed down the halls to classrooms to begin the competition. Each round consisted of 20 toss-up questions and 20 possible bonus questions, with players sounding buzzers to answer the toss-up questions and thereby claim first chance at the bonus questions.

Questions were based on the eighth-grade curriculum, according to Ahmed. They covered math, geography, history, language arts, science, and music.

The Henderson Academic Team competed against J.C. Booth Middle School of Fayette County in the first round, with Will Bice designated the first captain. The scores were close during the round, but Henderson won, 170-150. For Round 2, it was Henderson against Lamar County Middle School with Krista Martinez as team captain and another win for HMS, 215-90.

In Round 3, Henderson faced Luella Middle School and made it a sweep for the day, winning 210-100. The HMS team fell behind by 40 points midway through its round with Luella but held Luella to only five points in the second half of the round, according to Ahmed.

The three wins at the Academic Meet gave Henderson a total of 595 points. Total points are recorded over the season, and teams with the highest point totals when the season ends are ranked. Ahmed said the Henderson goal is 200 points per round, which they achieved almost exactly with the 595 points at their first meet of the season.

There are a total of 1,800 points possible to be scored during each round. The highest number of points scored by a school at a meet is usually below 800, however, according to Ahmed.

Other middle schools that sent Academic Teams to the meet at HMS included Bennetts Mill, Carver Road, Cowan Road, Dutchtown, Eagle's Landing, Fayette County, Flat Rock, Henry County, Ola, Pike County, Rehoboth, Rising Star, Stockbridge, Veterans Memorial, Whitewater, and Union Grove.

When the scores were all totaled the following day, Henderson had placed fourth out of the 20 schools, which was the best finish ever in the season's first meet, according to Rowland. The top three schools were all from Fayette County: first, Flat Rock; second, Whitewater; third, Rising Star. There will be four more meets, with the Academic Team season ending in November this year. Henderson will compete next on Tuesday, Oct. 19, at a meet hosted by Cowan Road Middle School in Griffin.

Individuals who volunteered their evening to be Readers, the persons who state the questions and accept or reject answers and also maintain order during the rounds, were Angelyn Hearn, Kendra Harbor, Sherri Gray, Tracie Brannan, Scott Nyman, Mamie Crawford, Kashif Ahmed, Peggy Myers, and Freida Aiken.

Those who volunteered as Timers, keeping the clock for questions, warning when time was about to expire, and assisting the Readers, were Juanita Biles, Michelle Hurst, Erik Sylvain, Johnnie Sylvain, Mike Fanusi, Sandy Williamson, Ryan Rigsby, Melissa Griffin, Amy Fanusi, and Rhonda McFarland.

Members of Henderson's Academic Team from the eighth-grade are Michaela Rowland, Lauren Love, Darren Johnston, Cade Chewning, Daniel Barge, Will Bice, Krista Martinez, Keith Russell, Christen Davis, and Jasmine White. From the seventh-grade, team members are Andrew Kish, Aatif Ahmed, Griffin Fletcher, and Nrushali Amin. Tey'na Hansford is the only sixth-grader on the team this year.

The team received a grant for $1,000 from the Central Georgia EMC Foundation last year, which enabled it to buy a new buzzer system, stop watches, and books to use in practicing for questions. Each academic team brings its own buzzer system to the meets. Central Georgia EMC also helped HMS with hosting the meet by providing paper and pencils for each room.

"The meet was well-organized," said Ahmed. "We received compliments."