Published Friday, November 8, 2002
for reading title
Herald Staff Writer
Greenville High School's auditorium was filled with students Thursday night cheering and shouting -- about reading.
Greenville hosted the seventh annual Interscholastic Reading Competition in which well over 400 students competed against one another to see who would emerge as reading champion of the group.
"It's different," Elizabeth McChesney, district librarian, said of the competition. "There's nothing else like this in this part of the state."
The kids compete on junior and senior high school levels. The teams have to read a total of 24 books and then compete by answering 20 questions in each of three rounds.
Randi Rivera, a ninth-grader at Sharon High School, said this was her second year to compete. "I love it. That's why I decided to come back this year," Randi said. "It was fun, and you get to meet new people."
Jamestown eighth-grader Shawn Lorigan also returned for a second year. He said he prepared for the competition by taking notes on the books he read and also by writing summaries of the books for his teacher.
"I like reading, and I enjoy competing with other people," said Geraldine Truog, a senior at West Middlesex High School. Geraldine competed for the fourth year. She said that last year her team did not perform well but they did much better Thursday.
Bret Nehlen, a seventh- grader at Greenville, participated for the first time this year. He said all accelerated reading students had to compete, and he prepared by reading the books, taking notes and attending homeroom meetings with his fellow students.
Mylissa Hoover, a seventh- grade English teacher at Slippery Rock, said the kids enjoy spending time with their friends, and there is a wide variety of books that appeal to all kinds of readers.
Ms. Hoover said the students are focused on the competition and excited to be there. "Their devotion amazes me sometimes," she said.
Jean Hejazi, high school English teacher, said many of the competing students also participate in the Youngstown State University English Festival every spring. She said the students enjoy the reading competition because, unlike the English festival, the answers are oral, so the pace moves faster.
First through fifth prizes are awarded in both the junior and senior high divisions, Mrs. Hejazi said.
In the last seven years, the number of competitors has really grown, Mrs. Hejazi said. The number of participating schools has grown from three to 16, and this year the number of senior high teams doubled from eight to 16, she said.
Mrs. McChesney said many students who began participating as junior high students keep coming back every year, which attributes to the growing numbers.
Locally the competing teams were Greenville, St. Michael's in Greenville, Jamestown, Sharon, West Middlesex, St. Joseph's in Sharon and Slippery Rock.
This year, students from Seneca Valley took the top honors in the senior high division while teams from Greenville and West Middlesex took first and second places, respectively, in the junior high division.
You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Kristen Garrett at:
kgarrett@sharonherald.com