Seneca Valley students win big at Academic Games
Students from Seneca Valley School District flexed their academic muscle on the national stage at the Academic Games League of America’s National Tournament from April 21 to 24 in Orlando, Fla.
The Academic Games tournament consisted of seven brainy events: Equations, On-Sets, LinguiSHTIK, Theme, Propaganda, Current Events and Presidents.
Thirty-two students from across Seneca Valley’s various schools competed in four divisions: Elementary (grades 5-6), Middle (7-8), Junior (9-10), and Senior (10-11).
Two elementary students, Emily Browne and Breanna Zimmermann, claimed the ultimate honors and won a national championship for Seneca Valley. Emily took home first place in the game of LinguiSHTIK, an event which tests grammar, writing and vocabulary skills, while Breanna took gold in the Equations event.
In the middle division, Caelan Buchanan, Albert Pimenov and Cora Suereth took second in the team Propaganda event.
In the junior division, the team of Michael Kravec, Maddox Grupp and Eli Lippert finished third in Current Events, while Rohin Jayaraman, Eli Lippert and Sarah Ghaffar finished fourth in Theme.
It wasn’t just the students of Seneca Valley who picked up honors in Orlando. Jeremiah Friday, gifted support teacher at Haine Elementary School, was named one of the Academic Games Leagues of America Outstanding Educators. After the tournament, Friday made sure to thank all those who helped both him and the students reach their goals.
“It is easy to be an outstanding educator, when you work with other incredible coaches,” said Friday in a statement. “Jen Exler, Julie Smith and Mike Stebbins are fantastic colleagues, who work to support our entire Academic Games program. In addition, our team has enjoyed amazing support from the administration and staff of both Haine and Ehrman Crest Middle Schools. Finally, my Academic Games coach from the Riverside Beaver County School District, Stephanie Mazzei, deserves much of the credit for our elementary team’s success.”
“Finally, thank you most of all to all of the players who have participated in the HMS and ECMS Academic Games program, over the past 16 years.”
“It was great to see our students compete,” said Michael Stebbins, Seneca Valley Senior High School librarian. “Our goal was to go to Orlando and place as high as we could while competing against some of the best players in the country.”
Students who competed in the AGLOA National Tournament included Violet Acosta, Emily Browne, Rahdin Esni, Moorthy Maharajan, Alex Meeder, Eliza Morley, Alexander Sbrolla, Luke Sloan, Kathryn Takac, Breanna Zimmerman, Ella Jacisin, Brennan Kaye, Eli Kopchinsky, Lila Padgelek, Graham Platt, Kyla Biertempfel, Calean Buchanan, Billy Conway, Caleb Gretz, Joe LaGamba, Maya Maharajan, Albert Pimenov, Erin Sbrolla, Cora Suereth, Eric Chen, Arvand Esni, Eli Lippert, Heath Lyon, Maddox Grupp, Michael Kravec, Rohin Jayaraman and Sarah Ghaffar.
