Applegate pupils win crown

By linda denicola
Staff Writer

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — Fifth-graders from the C. Richard Applegate School brought home a first-place trophy from the 11th annual Academic Bowl held recently in Jackson.

As nervous parents looked on, the six students pulled out all the stops during the tie-breaking round at the Carl W. Goetz Middle School on March 26.

Besides the trophy, each student on the winning team received a certificate.

"The win was especially rewarding since it was Applegate’s first foray into the tournament," said Applegate Principal Barbara Longo.

Students were selected to participate on the basis of several criteria, including maintaining an "A" average in their four main subjects: math, social studies, science and integrated language arts. They also took a test on a variety of subjects and had to write a personal letter expressing why they would like to participate.

Ben Lynch, Audris Wong, Andrew Paladino, Cameron Shahraray, Brendon Maroney and Samantha Raia were chosen as the Applegate team members, under the guidance of teacher Patricia Sfaelos.

The team members spent several months preparing for the competition, answering practice questions for the competition during the Lunch Bunch, a free time for students to complete homework or read after lunch, Sfaelos said.

The Jeopardy-like competition consisted of five topics, five questions per topic, with point values ranging from 10 to 50 points each. Topics included mythology, weather, ancient China, world currencies, art and First Ladies.

Lauren Sampson, public information of­ficer for the Freehold Township K-8 school district, said several students told her that math was the easiest category and spelling was the most difficult. Audris’ favorite topic was books and authors, Sampson said, and all of the students agreed that words ending in "o" was a very tough cat­egory.

The Applegate team totaled 870 points after the first three rounds and by the end of the tiebreaker they had amassed 1,240 points, Sampson said.

When asked what helped them most during the competition, the team members agreed that having their parents there was helpful. Sfaelos believes that students are less nervous when in the company of their peers.

"Parents were there, however, during the final tie-breaking round and their pride in their children was as electrifying as the victory," she said.