The SuValley High School Battle of the Books team claimed second place in the Mat-Su School District’s tournament on Monday at the Career and Technical High School in Wasilla. The team consisted of Jason Ellis, Amanda Burke, Hannah Starbuck and Raven Ballou. Mat-Su Central School emerged as the school district’s winner. In order to fight the Battle of the Books students must read 12 books, both fiction and nonfiction, in order to answer questions based on main passages from the books and inconsequential details. Su Valley High battle of the books coach Kathy Trump explained that questions asked at the competition are often tricky as they seem point to an obvious book from the list, when the answer is to be found in a minor episode of another book.
Trump also organized the Susitna Valley Middle School Poetry Slam, held last Friday at Su Valley High. In the opening rounds, a crowd of 40 kids read original poems. By round six, four students were left and they had to write a poem on the subject “new couch” on the spot, within two minutes. Eighth grader Dana Hogan and seventh grader Denali Morgan tied and went on to a sudden death round where they wrote a poem on “sweaty armpits.” Denali Morgan is the new SuValley Poetry Slam champion, Dana Hogan came in second place, Gita Sterling third, and Cyndi Hagen fourth. Judges were school librarian Jared Schucha, teacher Jennifer Pannuci and student Donna Hill.
