Earlier this month, South Shore Elementary School’s first Oregon Battle of the Books team competed at the regional finals competition. The students competed well and placed in the top 16 out of 49 teams. They were the only GAPS team at the competition.
South Shore staff shared the news of the competition on their website. Here is the recap. Congratulations, South Shore Super Squad. Great job!
After winning our first two battles, our kids were feeling great! They were ready for the next round! They won both battles in the next round, making them undefeated!
We had a little break while the judges added up points for all 49 teams. The 16 teams with the highest scores got to move on.
We knew we did well, but we weren’t sure if we had enough points to move on. As they announced the top 16, tension built. They announced 1, 2, 3 (crossing fingers), 4, 5, 6 (come on, say south shore), 7, 8, 9… (it’s ok! We did great no matter what), 10, 11, 12, (all is good. We did our best), 13, 14, 15, (and just as we lost hope), 16 SOUTH SHORE!!!
The kids jumped up! They were so excited!!! And of course their entourage went wild! Parents had tears, kids were hugging, pictures were taken!
We were the only first year team to make it to the top 16. We were the only team from Albany. We were competing against teams that have been doing this for many years.
As the other 33 teams left the school, the intensity rose. We entered single elimination, and unfortunately, we did not move on to top 8.
It was an incredible experience. The kids all had a great time and had the best sportsmanship!!