Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 1988, Page 44

Description:	South dominates State contestsDedication, practice, and hard work blend to make astate championship team. There is no difference betweenacademic and athletic competitors and teams.Souths academic teams nearly made a clean sweep ofIndiana academic competitions this past school year. Five ofsix state championships were won by Panther teams. In thesixth competition, South placed second.Our success this yearwas tremendous. The teammembers deserve a lot ofcredit for their hard work,dedication and desire to dotheir very best, said RuthGranich academic coach.Championships werewon in the AcademicDecathalon, the HoosierSpell Bowl, Future ProblemSolving, the IndianaTournament of AcademicCompetitions, andKnowledge Masters, acomputerized competition.The second place was wonin the Hoosier AcademicSuper Bowl.Granich reported theinevitability of improvedgrades for studentsparticipating on anyacademic team. She gave as an example a team membertwo years ago who could not gain admission to IndianaUniversity because of low high school grades. Because ofa very high performance in academic competitions we wereable to get a special exception for admission. This studentis now maintaining a grade average of 3.0 plus, Granichsaid.Acting principal Ted Adams presents Geoff Nordlow withthe gold medal at regionals.This was the third year for Souths participation in theAcademic Decathlon competition. As the 1987-88 Indianawinner, the team paticipated in the United States AcademicNational Championship held in San Antonio, Texas, in April.I was pleased that we reached nationals in just threeyears. It was a goal and we achieved that goal; however, Ithink we could have done better, said Granich.In the first yearscompetition South placedsixth, second the nextyear, and first this, thethird year.Study sessions forDecathalon began in lateAugust and lasted until thelast day of competition atnationals. The extrastudying is like having anextra class or two,commented team memberPeter Sepanski. Westudied at home wheneverwe could and in studygroups at least six hours aweek, explained DavidGallman, another teammember.The Decathlon team hadto prepare for sevenmultiple choice tests oversubjects such as Math, English, Physics, Economics andthe Arts and Humanities. Team members also were requiredto write an essay on material from a state wide reading list,give an impromptu speech and be interviewed by a panel ofjudges.ITAC wins StateOne of the essential elements of Bloomington Southsacademic competitions was the Indiana Tournament ofAcademic Competitions (ITAC). The tournament wascomposed of seven tests which were taken by ninestudents. These seven tests covered the areas of Math,Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science, English,and Mechanical Drawing.The nine students are given two and a half hours tocomplete the tests. They may work in groups, pairs,individually, or any way they choose. Mrs. Granich, the teamcoach, commented, It is not so much what these teammembers know, but how they work together. Theiressential cooperation earned the ITAC team a first placestate championship finish.44
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/2926
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

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