McKittrick tops at ‘Whiz Kids’
McKittrick School is the overall Whiz Kids champion for 2010. The annual academic competition for seventh and eighth graders in Kern County’s small, rural schools took place today (Feb. 25) at Piute Mountain School where the competition originated many years ago. Elk Hills School finished second and Belridge Elementary was third.
Participating schools included Belridge Elementary, Elk Hills, Linns Valley-Poso Flat Union, McKittrick and Midway schools and Caliente School District. Each school selected six students for their teams for a total of 30 participants. The event, modeled after the high school Academic Decathlon, featured competition in five areas — Math, Social Studies, Science, Essay and Super Quiz.
There was a two-way tie for the Science team title between McKittrick and Elk Hills. McKittrick and Caliente tied for the Math title and Elk Hills won the Super Quiz title.
Super Quiz matched teams against each other. Each student had to answer four of 24 questions within an allotted time based on curriculum from the social studies book, “Crispin.” Written by Avi, it is an historical fiction story of a young boy in medieval England and the struggles to find his identity.
Individual titles were contested in Essay and Social Studies categories. Last year’s Essay champion, McKittrick’s Leslie Tacza, won again, and also was declared the winner in the Social Studies category.
Caliente Union School District Superintendent/Principal Kathleen Hansen said, “This event was designed to promote and celebrate academic excellence. I believe this is an outstanding time for bright and aspiring students to shine.”
2010 Whiz Kids results:
Overall Team Finalists (Schools)
1. McKittrick
2. Elk Hills
3. Belridge Elementary
Team Category Winners (Schools)
Science — (tie) McKittrick and Elk Hills
Math — (tie) McKittrick and Caliente
Super Quiz — Elk Hills
Individual Finalists (Student and School)
Essay
- — Leslie Tacza, McKittrick
- — Madisen Wickliffe, Elk Hills
- — Alex Roth, McKittrick
Social Studies (Student and School)
- — Leslie Tacza, McKittrick
- — (tie) Triston Ginn, McKittrick and Alex Rodriguez, Elk Hills
- — (tie) Maddison Rubadeau, McKitrrick, Haylee Tracy, McKittrick and
Raymond Langley, Caliente
*Results provided by Caliente Union School District
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