The week of Jan. 22 - 25 was one for the scholars of Du Quoin CUSD to shine! During this week, student teams, selected by teachers, participated in an area competition called Brain Games. Students completed various academic challenges earning points for each area in the areas of trivia, math problem solving, history, poetry, art projects, engineering challenges and more. This is a credit to our gifted/advanced programming across the district, with each group being sponsored by a teacher of the gifted/honors program, Leah Winter from high school and Olivia Fitch and Brittany Goldman for middle grades. We had six teams participate across the grade levels 5th - high school with three of those advancing to the next level for regional competitions. The following includes photos from the competition days, identifying the student teams advancing to the regional game competition.
Du Quoin High School teams consist of one student from each grade level freshman through senior: (Pictured L-R): Reagan Rodely, Lane Fred, Xander Ingram, and Sam Vancil (left) working on team challenge. Mackenzie Edwards, Katlin Tripp, Hunter Martin, and Josh Vancil (right) placed 5th and will advance on to regional competition.
Students participating from 7th-8th grades include (L-R pictured left) Keegan Sumers, Rhea Young, Darius Pate, Brookelyn Emrich, Quade McPherson, Max Vancil, Gannyn Funk and Reese DeHart. The team of Rhea, Reese, Gannyn and Max (pictured right below) had impressive work taking 1st place overall out of 34 teams advancing on to the regional competition.
One of the 5th-6th grade teams placed 6th overall out of 30 teams in their Brain Games advancing on to regional play. The student participants included (Pictured bottom left L-R) Henry Rathert, Harrison Still, Tianna Longshore, Holden Harsy, (Pictured bottom right L-R) Kylie Davis, Naomi Davison, Mason Kern and Aydan Lipe. The team on the right placed 6th overall!
Due to the emergency day, the Brain Games for 3rd and 4th grade students are upcoming next. We wish them all the best on their challenge day, Feb. 22. The 3rd -4th grade teams are sponsored by Kimberly Loyd and Jennifer Craft.
Congratulations to all the students on their dedication to hard work around creative and critical thinking! We are proud and celebrate every student on being selected for the Brain Games and their collaborative work during these completion days! Good luck to the teams advancing on to the regional play. The Brain Games Regional Competition will be held April 15 - 18 at Rend Lake College. Parents are welcome to attend. Events will conclude at 2 pm each day followed by the announcement and awards to the top four teams.