Last Friday, February the 15th, was a busy day for us especially for my husband and daughter. After a long day of the battle of the brains for the history bowl, these two attended the Father and Daughter Dance held at the school.
Although they were both tired since we didn't get home till past 4 pm, they still managed to go. I originally planned on going going to school to take some pictures but I was so tired from lack of sleep and while watching our children compete I was so anxious, my energy was completely drained lol.
Father and Daughter Dance is one of the activities that the school offers to give Dads and their daughters to bond. I think it's a great concept too.
I wish there is a special moment for Moms and sons too like this. I was joking around with other Moms and said that it's unfair for the Moms because the event for us is "Muffins with Moms", I said it is not helping our figures, we already have muffin tops so.. lol. Kidding aside, I still yet to experience that, so we will see.
My teen has no interest with make ups just like me. I am glad she is a low maintenance though.
The dance event was for two hours. They both said that they had a great time.
I mean for $15 for both of them, it was a great night, an experience that both of them will remember for a long time.
I am grateful that there were volunteers that took some pictures. My husband also took some pictures but they were dark. He also showed me a video of the girls line dancing.
The Building on the background is the West Virginia Northern Community College
West Virginia has an annual History Bowl competition for schools across the mountain states. My children's school, St. Joseph School from Weirton, participates to it since 9 years ago. This is an event that my daughter was looking forward to. We started reviewing for her materials since the beginning of November of last year.
The school does not provide a coach so students are on their own. The lack of support from the school makes some of the students not wanting to participate but my daughter really wanted to do it so she worked really hard in learning the facts. She told me that she would do it by herself if she has to, lol. I really wish that the school would designate a coach for this specific event, the kids would be more motivated and they will have someone to guide them. We worked with our daughter in reviewing her materials, my husband, her brother, and me are part of her team. It's the same way with the other members, families are the coaches.
It's a team of four and I am so glad that one of their classmates stepped up and agreed to be on their team 4 days before the competition. It wasn't enough time to learn facts but kudos to her for doing it. Some of the girls also came to support the team during the competition.
They decided that my daughter will be the team captain. Our daughter is very driven, sometimes it scares me but it's a good thing I think. If she think she won't do a very good job, she doesn't even want to try it but when she's confident, nothing stops her. She does really well with pressure although I am concern when she is anxious because she constantly picks on her fingers. During the competition (final round), her fingers were tore up from her picking on it, it got bloody.
Glad their friends came as their moral support, it meant a lot to them.
The history bowl organizers served light refreshments and snacks before the competition begins.
We arrived a bit early at the venue so we had a chance to take pictures and look around inside the Independence Hall, in Wheeling West Virginia. Our school is part of the Northern Panhandle, Region 6. Eight grades from across this region battled it out for a chance to compete in the championship in April which will be held in Charleston. Teams of four faced off against each other, answering questions about the state's history in the double-elimination tournament.
St. Joseph's official team includes Antonio A., Hannah B., Juliana V., and our daughter Rylie. With them is the school's principal, Mrs. Fuscardo.
Here are the scores during the elimination rounds.
Round 1 - 30 winner - 3 other school
Round 2 - 28 winner - 7 other school
Round 3 - 22 winner - 4 other school
Round 4 - 22 lost against Sherard School who got 26 score
Round 5 - I don't have the actual score but we won against Cameron School.
Round 6 - St. Joseph battled with Sherard School again but lost to 4 points.
Our school was the runner up but they will have a chance to battle it out for the championship this coming April in Charleston. All the champions and runners up from different regions will compete again.
The two months break will give them the time to review again and learn more facts about West Virginia.
I am glad that our team was very confident in going into this competition.
The reigning champion for years was the Cameron School but since their coach left and went to Sherard, they did not win this year. Sherard got the title this year. Coach for this kind of event is really important because the kids can get proper training before the competition. Considering our children's situation though, they did really well. Hopefully, St. Joseph will take this opportunity to really assign a coach, fingers crossed.
My daughter is very competitive so she always wants to do her best in everything that she participates into. I told her that even if they don't win, the experience alone is great. She said "There's no fun in losing" which I agree but we reminded her that you can't always win and that's the reality of life.
I am so glad that their hard work really paid off and they earned a spot for the championship.
Their team will be the second team from St. Joseph School that gets to participate for the championship in Charleston. The last team was from 4 years ago so they are excited.
Out of 10 schools in Ohio, Marshall, Brooke, and Wetzel counties competed throughout the day on Friday. The top-two teams advancing to the state tournament will be our school, St. Joseph School, and Sherard.
The 2,100 questions consist of West Virginia History; Trivia, Geography, politics, pop culture as explained by the History Bowl Coordinator Matthew McGrew.
This event gives these young minds not just a great way to gain knowledge but it also showcases each participant's pride for the region.
"As you know, in 8th grade, we get our big year of West Virginia studies, and we try for the Golden Horseshoe. I just thought it'd be a great idea to let these kids get together; it helps them get more knowledge. But the biggest is, it builds pride," said Randall Reid-Smith, curator for the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture, and History.
Below is a video I managed to record before the battery of my camera died. At 10:10 of the video, I suspect a supernatural occurrence, the scoreboard went off and my camera went blurry.. I think the question touched a ghost's nerve lol.
The kids are so motivated by the result of this event. My son is even considering to do it too when it's time for their class to compete in two years. The good thing about it is that, we already have some of the materials that he needs, we just need to update the names of politicians. Our kids need to learn more about the revolutionary era and the geography facts, those are the two areas, they seemed to struggled in remembering.
