Largest number of Galena students ever head to Battle of the Books contest

Galena winners of the Battle of the Books.

Photo courtesy Genny Brown

Galena winners of the Battle of the Books.

By KALA HENDRICKSON, staff writer

Five students from Galena, Alaska have earned a spot on the Galena City School District state battle of the books team.

“We are preparing for the state competition, which will take place this week, Feb. 28 through March 3, said Mrs. Brown. Genny Brown is a district librarian in Galena for the Sydney Huntington School, the Galena Interior Learning Academy and the GCSD coordinator for Battle of The Books.

“This is the largest number of students competing from Galena ever,” said Mrs. Brown.

The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth graders are competing in Anchorage. The team has one fifth grader traveling to Anchorage for the competition, Sophia Schumacher, who is an SHS student. “She is meeting Katie Jones from Fairbanks and Emma from Soldotna who are a part of the IDEA program”, said Mrs. Brown. “One seventh grader (Sable Scotton), one eighth grader (Abigail Landrum), one tenth grader (Henry Landrum), and one senior (Ellie Ruchti), are all going to Fairbanks meeting two other members there,” said Mrs. Brown.

The students started reading their books to prepare in April and May of last year.

“In October we started doing practices for the kids in Galena, but they were not in a team,” said Mrs. Brown.

Ayla Kalke has been practicing with the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. Mrs. Brown has practiced with the older students. The district competition was in January.

“Coaches have been working with the students who made the teams for a little over a month”, says Mrs. Brown. Battle of the Books team members from GCSD often meet face to face for the first time the night before the state competition. All practices and battles are done over the phone or teleconference.

To follow the team, click here http://www.akla.org/akasl/bb/bbhome.html .