Tag Archive : Governor’s Cup

/ Governor’s Cup

Academy Students Represent Local Schools in District Governor’s Cup Tournaments

February 4, 2011 | News, People, Student Success, Students | No Comments

Several Gatton Academy students found success while representing their local high school during district Governor’s Cup tournaments held in January.

The annual series of district, regional, and state competitions test students knowledge is a variety of content areas.  Students are selected to take exams in mathematics, science, social students, arts and humanities, and writing.  Teams of students also compete in Future Problem Solving and quick recall (academic team) matches.

Kentucky Association for Academic Competition (KAAC), the organization that sponsors the statewide tournament, does not allow the Gatton Academy to field its own team.  KAAC bylaws require students to compete for the school that receives Average Daily Attendance (ADA) monies from the state.

While Tim Gott, Director of the Gatton Academy, would love to field a team, he views the current system for competition as another facet of the relationship between the Academy and students’ sending schools.

“This is another great example of our partnership with the sending schools,” Gott said. ” The success of these students on the written assessments is something to celebrate with their home school and Gatton Academy.  Together, we are giving these outstanding young people the opportunities to excel and shine.”

Students will compete in regional tournaments around the state later this month.  Students placing in the top five at regionals in each event will advance to the state tournament in March.

Gatton Academy Students Placing in 2011 District Tournaments:

David Sekora — 1st Place Mathematics Assessment and 1st Place Science Assessment (District 8)

Christian Jolly — 1st Place Mathematics Assessment and 3rd Place Science Assessment (District 9)

Tejas Sangoi — 3rd Place Mathematics Assessment (District 10)

Jon Warren — 1st Place Mathematics Assessment (District 11)

Sarah Schrader — 1st Place Science Assessment, 2nd Place Composition, and 2nd Place Mathematics Assessment (District 13)

Michael Crocker — 3rd Place Mathematics Assessment (District 13)

Holly Morris — 3rd Place Science Assessment (District 13)

Ellis Shelly — 3rd Place Science Assessment (District 15)

Brandon Farmer — 5th Place Mathematics Assessment (District 38)

Tucker Joyce — 1st Place Mathematics Assessment and 1st Place Science Assessment (District 41)

Laura Claytor — 4th Place Mathematics Assessment (District 45)

Ben Rice — 1st Place Mathematics Assessment and 2nd Place Science Assessment (District 48)

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By Corey Alderdice

Gatton Academy Captures State Title in Knowledge Masters Open

December 9, 2009 | News, Student Life, Student Success | No Comments

Results from the December 2009 Competition
Results from the December 2009 Competition

A team of 16 Gatton Academy students took top honors in the Kentucky division of the Knowledge Masters Open.

The Knowledge Masters Open provides a challenging, low-cost academic competition in which teams of students compete — nationally and internationally — without leaving their own schools. The KMO began in 1983 with 72 schools; it now annually attracts over 3,000 schools and 45,000 participants from the U.S. and several foreign lands.

Teams in the Knowledge Master Open receive 200 curriculum-based contest questions on a CD-ROM and compete using a computer at their own schools. Questions are answered as a team.  In practice, the competition is a mix of Governor’s Cup and the networked quiz games found in restaurants.

Rohith Palli (Fayette ’10) worked to get other students interested in the competition.  Since the Gatton Academy is not allowed to participate in the KAAC-sponsored Governor’s Cup, Knowledge Masters provided a great outlet for students seeking the thrill of academic competition.

“The competition requires a high level of cooperation among students as we attempt to reach a consensus upon the correct answer,” Palli said.   “The high level of intellect in the room and our comfort with each other–since we, you know, live together– were huge positives.”

To the team’s surprise, they often scored better on questions in areas other than math and science.

“We had fun as we went and discussed between questions a lot,” Palli added.  “We actually missed a trig question the first time, and then answered it on the second attempt only because we squelched our first impulse and solved it.”

Despite this outing being the Academy’s first attempt at the competition, Palli believes they can do better when the test is offered anew in March 2010.  Though the team took top honors in the state, the team placed 72nd out of the field of nearly 700 worldwide teams.

“I feel like we have the capability of being much higher, but it was a great result for the first try,” Palli said.

For more information, contact Corey Alderdice at 270-745-6565.

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By Corey Alderdice