Students from five Merced area middle schools went head to head in the inaugural “Merced City School District Battle of the Books Invitational” at Tenaya Middle School on Friday, April 20.
The competitors came from four MCSD schools: Cruickshank, Hoover, Rivera, and Tenaya as well as McSwain Middle School. Multiple teams from each school competed throughout the day in a literary competition that focused on 10 novels they read in advance.
The titles included such works as, “A Ring of Endless Light” by Madeleine L’Engle, “Bud, Not Buddy” by Christopher Paul Curtis, and “On the Far Side of the Mountain” by Jane Craighead George. The questions required the students to remember specific details from each story.
The day began with four rounds of competition in classrooms throughout the campus before students came together in the multipurpose room to hear the results.
Rivera students Julia Nies, Elena Santos-Gonzalez, Tianna LiWang, and Kaylie Escobar-Islas earned a perfect score to take first place in the small group contest. The girls also helped Rivera win an exciting rapid fire tiebreaker against Hoover to claim the trophy for the most overall points for their school.
MCSD Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Paula Heupel says, “It was thrilling to see all of the students so excited and knowledgeable about literature. The teacher librarians from each of the participating schools did a tremendous job of organizing this inaugural event, and we look forward to the continued success of this competition in the future.”
The Merced City School District would also like to acknowledge and thank all of the staff members and volunteers from our district and others who helped make this opportunity possible, beginning with MCSD teacher librarians Maria Dietz, Rhonda Sancibrian, Seanna Haslouer, Joette Klemin, and McSwain librarian Ronda Douglas. They did an exceptional job of planning and running this event together. Also a special thanks to MCSD elementary teacher librarians Pang Moua, Diane Pust, Angelica Ozuna, and Nikki Kline as well as Susan Mikkelson (Merced High School teacher librarian), Allyssa Sepulveda (Delhi High School coordinator of library and digital media services), Travis Harding (Atwater High School teacher librarian), Tara Woodall (Golden Valley High School teacher librarian), Julie Cook (Buhach Colony High School teacher librarian), Tony Doyle (El Capitan High School teacher librarian), Jil Borden (Livingston Middle School library media teacher), Danny Ambriz (MCSD Information Technology application specialist), and college student Noelle Haycraft. They all offered support in a variety of ways, from serving as moderators to running the technical components. We appreciate you all!
