03/16/09 — Rosewood Middle School captures crown in book battle

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Rosewood Middle School captures crown in book battle

By Staff Reports
Published in News on March 16, 2009 1:46 PM

A team from Rosewood Middle School won the recent "Battle of the Books" competition for Wayne County Public Schools, beating out three-time reigning champion Norwayne Middle.

Norwayne came in second place.

The 23rd annual event was held March 2 at Dillard Middle School, with 70 students from seven area middle schools competing.

Rosewood will now go on to compete in the regional event, scheduled for April 2 at the Delamar Center at Pamlico Community College.

The Rosewood team consisted of Anna Cooke, Sydney Cox, Abigale Godwin, Sara Lewis, Evan Reiss, Cymberlin Sasser, Charleigh Smith and Ashley Thornton. Coaches were Kathy Lawson and Angie Lewis.

"Battle of the Books" is a quiz bowl-type competition designed for students in grades 6 through 8. Students read books from a list released by the state, competing to test their knowledge of the books.

"This event is fun for students and spectators, and is a great way to motivate students to read and enjoy quality literature," said Olivia Pierce, the school system's Executive Director for Community Relations, Instructional Media and Technology. "I am always impressed with the ability of these students to remember minute details from so many books while under pressure of the competition."

Members of the Norwayne included Jacob Balance, Lauren Ellis, Robbie Jennette, Casey Scarboro, Tyrek Shepard, Matthew Simmons, Tara Simmons, Chloe Smith, Elizabeth Tsui, Maddie Vera, Ashley Vick and Sydney Waters. Coaches were Rhonda Nichols, Pam Lipcsak and Sara Ruhl.

Other schools in the local competition were Dillard Middle, Eastern Wayne Middle, Greenwood Middle, Mount Olive Middle, and Spring Creek Middle/High.