The week of Jan. 14-17 was one for the scholars of Du Quoin CUSD to shine! During this week, student teams, selected by their 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, creative 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, John Vercellino from high school; Olivia Fitch and Brittany Goldman for middle grades; and Jennifer Craft and Kimberly Loyd for elementary grades. We had eight teams participate across the grade levels 3rd - high school with five of those advancing to the 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): Xander Ingram, Hunter Harsy, Sam Vancil, Gannyn Funk, Mackenzie Edwards, Addison Willis, Chloe Webb, Reese DeHart. They placed 3rd and 4th and will advance on to regional competition.
Students participating from 7th-8th grades include (L-R pictured left) Madilynn Williams, Edie Pursell, Reah Young, and Ashlyn Strode. The team took 1st place overall advancing on to the regional competition. These students were sponsored by Brittany Goldman, middle school Gifted English Lang. Arts teacher and Olivia Fitch, middle school Advanced Math teacher.
The awards and congratulations with the 3rd and 4th grade teams receiving 5th and 6th places overall advancing on to the regional level. (Pictured below L-R) 3rd and 4th grader Roxy Jones, Kaitlyn Kuhnert, Ruby Harper, Matthew Blakemore, Parley Belle Piper, Jayden Paul, Frankie Campanella and Caleb Davison-Fulk)
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 in March 24 - 27 at Rend Lake College. More information on specific team competitions is forthcoming and families are welcome to attend. Events will conclude at 2 pm each day followed by the announcement and awards to the top teams.
by Diana Rea, Acting Superintendent