Team 'Coquihalla BOOM' took first place at this year's Reading Link Challenge competition held on Wednesday, March 30 at Coquihalla School. BOOM team members Griffin Blue, Emma Bonikowsky, Caitlin Brown, Brook Cline, Jacob Medlock, Jacob Well, and Wilson Rousseau narrowly defeated the Harrison Hot Springs Elementary Purple Piranhas.
Nine teams from Coquihalla, Harrison Hot Springs, Seabird Island, Kent (Agassiz), and C.E. Barry elementary schools competed in this year's event. Competition was fierce and lively with loud team cheers, alternating with loud groans.
This year's books were as diverse as Marty Chan’s “Mystery of the Mad Science Teacher” to Lois Lowry’s “Number the Stars”. A sample question: What was the name of the steamboat that Charlotte took up the Sacramento River? (The Wilson G. Hunt)
This is a difficult challenge - team members are pressed to remember details from the six books they have been reading since last fall. At the Challenge events, teams work together to answer ten questions in each of three rounds.
Scorekeepers Noreen Dragani from the University of the Fraser Valley and Jacquelynne Garden from Fraser Valley Regional Library were kept busy as team captains asked sharp questions about which answers would garner their team additional points. Nicole Glentworth, Manager of the Upper Fraser Valley Libraries was on hand to make sure the teams answered the questions in the allotted time of 30 seconds.
Local organizers Deb Ireland (Hope Library) and Terrill Scott (Agassiz Library) commended all the teams on their hard work and commitment. “This is a terrific opportunity to team-build around the sport of reading,” said librarian Deb Ireland, noting that Reading Link Challenge encourages children to read, read, read!
Reading Link Challenge is sponsored by the Fraser Valley Regional Library in partnership with local schools to promote reading in Grades 4 and 5. The program begins in the fall of the school year and continues until the Grand Challenges in April.
The Coquihalla BOOM and their teacher/coach, Monique Gratrix, now go on to compete at the Grand Challenge, which will be held at Kwantlen College in Langley on April 12 at 7:00 p.m. Friends and family are encouraged to attend and to cheer the team on.