Brainiac Middle Schoolers Win Awards

Jessica Fiddes

Posted February 8

Left to right, top row (8th grade Varsity team): Austin Gobbo, Chris Jagoe, Connor Van Cleef, Josef Johnson, Ian Sullivan. Bottom row (7th grade JV Team): Mark O’Meara, Andre Rodriguez, Tom Abel, Aaron Earlywine, Peter Hagerty.

On February 5, 2010 Delbarton middle schoolers attended the Middle School Consortium General Knowledge Tournament at Newark Academy and brought home two plaques. The 8th Grade Varsity team won first place, and the 7th Grade JV team took home second place, in competitive fields that matched top 7th and 8th graders from area schools. The boys answered some tough questions and moderators Katie Beck and Jake Ross "very impressed with their performances."

Middle Schoolers had earlier taken a written test to qualify for the General Knowledge Tournament. Top scorers in both grades made the cut, and the teams had less than two week to practice during M block periods. "There were a lot of School programs during M block which meant we even had less time to prepare," said a 7th grader. One boy reported that he practiced on his own by reading the Book of Answers from the New York Public Library. "Whoa!" commented his teammate, who was justifiably impressed by his classmate's initiative. Did they find the tournament challenging? Yes, especially the math questions, which were tough and timed, though the boys were able to use scrap paper and pencils. One question that almost stumped them was "What is the notorious airplane device that records the last thirty minutes in an airline flight?" Answer: 'black box' -- but the box is actually orange, noted the scholars. Luckily, one of the boys had watched a movie the week before that addressed flight data recovery. (See why watching TV is so critical to general knowledge development, Mom and Dad?)

Congratulations to the proud members of Delbarton's award winning General Knowledge teams!