Western Bradford Notebook: Scholarship Challenge a 'legacy' in Canton, by Eric Hrin

Question: What does it take to be a member of Canton Area School District's Scholarship Challenge Team?

Answer: practice, practice, practice.

Recently, the Canton team participated in the first qualifier of the Scholarship Challenge competition in Waverly, N.Y., and brought home $350 as the runner-up. Performing admirably, the Canton team made it all the way to the fifth and final match as they vied against the team from Elmira Free Academy, which defeated Canton in a close contest.

The Canton team formed in the fall, according to team advisor Jeff Wynne.

"We selected about 20 candidates for the team in early October," he said. "In October, we went through a try-out process and then at the end of the month the six who had performed the best were named the team."

Then, the preparation began in the New Year.

"We practiced for about three to four times a week in January, since November and December are such hectic times in everyone's schedules," he said. "We basically played rounds using past competitions' questions during our 40-minute period at the end of the day which is a time to catch up on missed work, preview the next day's lessons, and have any team meetings."

Wynne described each of the team members and the reserve team members.

"Karlee Moyer is an all around excellent student but math and science are where she excels the most," he said. "Matt Jennings is very active in FFA, knows his biology and agriculture, and amazed everyone with his general level of knowledge. Sierra Kisinger is an excellent writer and a top notch English student who knows her literature. Jacob Holmes is our resident sports encyclopedia who also knows pop culture."

He continued, "Bridget Tracey is our business knowledge base so I decided to hold her in reserve to sub in if it turned out to be a business heavy day of knowledge. The team was rounded out by Zach Schmelzle who has the kind of all-round knowledge that it is good for a reserve to have."

Tracey provided information about the school district at the Scholarship Challenge.

"I chose Bridget to do the school promo ad since she is very good at public speaking," Wynne said.

The team members have already decided what they will be pursuing after high school.

"Karlee is going to Penn State main campus for Pre-Med," said Wynne. "Matt is going into environmental science. Sierra is going to pursue math. Jacob Holmes is going to pursue a special education major. Bridget is going into occupational therapy. Zach plans on becoming an accountant."

"In Canton, the school is the central part of our community and all of our events draw big attention from the community," he said. "We aren't as big of a tradition as football and wrestling in our community but it certainly is a legacy of which we are proud and many people listen to the matches when Canton competes. We are proud that we are one of the few remaining schools who have been with the program since it was started. Jim Arnold (a former Canton Scholarship Challenge advisor) started a great tradition when he agreed to join the fledgling effort that we are glad to carry on to this day."

On its website, the Canton Area School District offered its own congratulations to the team. The district seemed to sum it up best.

"They finished extremely well against some tough competition. Mr. Wynne, the team coach, reports it was the school's best finish in approximately 20 years. Congratulations to the team on a great competition!"

Do you have a news item that you would like featured in the Western Bradford Notebook? Contact Eric Hrin at (570) 297-5251 or email reviewtroy@thedailyreview.com