Walking into Evergreen Theatre at Powell River Recreation Complex, people could be forgiven for thinking they had stumbled across a sports event. With all the cheering and enthusiasm it is hard to believe such enthusiasm centred on reading.
So it was when grade six and seven students from elementary schools across School District 47 competed in Read for the Top’s 15th annual event, earlier this month.
Students brought their energy and enthusiasm to support their home school teams. It was an exciting and very loud event as students cheered on their classmates.
Leading up to the event, children were asked to read 20 novels which had been assigned to their grade. Teams competed by listening to clues and guessing the novels to which the clues referred. The hosts barely got a few words out before boards were raised and the judges decided who got to respond first.
This year’s game hosts and helpers were all students from Brooks Secondary School and past Read for the Top competitors. This year’s hosts were Clancy Sindlinger and Jeremy Hopper. Judges were Warren Turley, Justin Johansen, Bailey Hollingsworth, Gemma Gordon and Chloe Elzer.
This year’s winners for grade seven were:
First—Westview Elementary School with a team of Annika Krowitz, Ajay Virk, Hailey Shigeoka and Morgan Labree (alternate);
Second—Edgehill Elementary School team Cameron Devereaux, Tristan Turney, Jaxyn Oele and Katheryn Sheldon (alternate);
Third—Texada Elementary School team Rowan Ferrie, Raven Cardinal, Desmond Mack and Kali Widsten (alternate).
Winners for grade six were:
First—Edgehill’s team of Chloe Welde, Taryn Gutter-Spence, Mitchell Clements and Rylyn Christensen (alternate);
Second—Henderson Elementary School team Ally Boyd, Camryn Cline, Sydni Piccinin and Paige Hodgins (alternate);
Third—Westview’s team Darian McCullough, Drew Deglan, Andrew Glenn and Olivia Hopkins (alternate).
