Eighth-graders emerge as champs after day-long contest

Hardyston team finishes first in Sussex County Middle Schools Academic Bowl Hardyston Township — In a repeat of 2008, Hardyston Township Middle School’s Academic Bowl Team finished first in the county final of the Academic Bowl for Middle Grades held Thursday, May 7 at Reverend Brown School in Sparta. The runner-up team was from Reverend Brown School. The six-member Hardyston team included Adam Dennis, Olivia Ganz, Amanda Martino, Kevin Naser, Matthew Paulik and Collin Urban; all eighth-graders. Students who wanted to participate in the academic competition were selected over a period of several weeks, as the team was narrowed down through practices and responses to general knowledge questions. The Hardyston team was coached by eighth-grade language arts teacher Patricia Rosendale, who’s been coaching Hardyston’s team for the past three years. The five teams participating in this year’s event were from Lafayette, Sparta, St. Joseph, Reverend Brown and Hardyston Township schools. The Academic Bowl tests students’ reflexes, teamwork skills and sheer knowledge in a fun and competitive atmosphere that follows a television game show format, using questions and buzz-in devices. Each round offers questions on subjects from general history to mathematics, science, literature and the performing arts. Hardyston’s team won the first three rounds of the five preliminary rounds, losing only to the Reverend Brown team in the fourth round, and then scored a win over Sparta in the fifth round, which gave the Hardyston players the berth for the final match with the highest score value against the Reverend Brown team, which had the second highest score. Hardyston’s team quickly rebounded from its earlier loss and won the final match.