Reading Bowl team excels at Tomecon competition
Published 5:30 pm Monday, March 27, 2023
- C.A. Gray Reading Bowl team members, pictured from left, Isabella McCoy, Rane Kusek, Rasheedat Agboola, Mahaila McCoy, Kelsie Singer compete during the Tomecon competition in March. The team placed third in the state and took home a seven awards.
GAINESVILLE — The C.A. Gray Junior High School reading bowl team excelled during the most challenging competition of the season in Gainesville this month.
Tomecon, the culminating event for participants of the Tome Society, is held on the campus of the University of North Georgia each year. The competition took place Tuesday, March 14.
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Each year students can speak with authors and illustrators from around the country while they attend learning sessions and book signings. Reading Bowl Team members Jenni Walsh, Jaden Taylor and Tinsley Adair had an opportunity to meet I Am Defiance author Jenni Walsh during the event.
This nonprofit organization provides “a diverse menu of digital student competitions; an annual book award list of new, clean, fun-to-read children’s and young adult literature titles; student book club activities; curriculum materials for educators; and the Tomecon annual conference for both students and educators.”
“The C. A. Gray reading bowl team cleaned up at their competition this year,” Melanie Turner, the reading bowl coach and media specialist, said.
{p class=”p1”}The team competed live — for the first time in C.A. Gray history — in the final four quiz bowl competition. The team earned its spot by beating out 52 other schools throughout the year. Gray placed third in the state at Tomecon and also earned a record-breaking seven awards.
Turner said, “I am so proud of how hard my team has worked all year, especially these last few weeks of our extended competition season.”
The team members placed as follows:
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Current Issues: David Walden & Gavin Cooper — 1st place
Bookprint: Frances Bius — 1st place
Graphic Cover Redesign: Rane Kusek — 1st place
Book Talk: Tinsley Adair — 3rd place
Theme Essay: Alana Keigans — 3rd place
Fan Art: Jaden Taylor — 3rd place
Historical Fiction Infographic: Rasheedat Agboola — 3rd place
The students on Gray’s team of 8th and 9th graders read and studied 10 different books from the Tome list during this school year. They met during clubs and before school. Team members each created a project based on one of these 10 books including videos, poetry, essays, art and more. They placed 10th, then 4th, then 3rd on their online book exams throughout the year.
