Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Ten Sleep School's Knowledge Bowl team pointing at the results showing them as the sixth place team out of 15 teams having not competed in many years. The team members are Kinley Anderson, Ellis Bishop, Kiyoshi Smith, Jesse Blazo and Cameron Carter.
TEN SLEEP - Ten Sleep had a team compete in the Knowledge Bowl on Dec. 7, an event for students in the Big Horn Basin to test their knowledge in various academic disciplines against teams from other schools.
The Ten Sleep team took sixth place overall out of 15 teams representing 11 schools throughout the Big Horn Basin. This is the first year in a long time that Ten Sleep had a team compete in the event in quite some time, according to their coach Donald Anderson, an educator at Ten Sleep School.
Anderson said that staff he spoke with at the school didn't know for sure the last time the school had participated in the event, which has been happening annually for 42 years. He said they estimate that the last team Ten Sleep competed would have been in the '90s.
Anderson said that Ten Sleep's return to the competition came about when the event organizer in Burlington contacted the school to ask if Ten Sleep would like to participate. Principal Robert Griffin then approached Anderson to take on the role of coach for a Knowledge Bowl team and to put a team together. As a former member of the Ten Sleep Knowledge Bowl team, Anderson thought that it was a great opportunity to get his students engaged in academics.
He said "I was excited about it because when I went to school here I was on the Knowledge Bowl team and I knew how much fun it was, and I thought it would be a good opportunity for the kids." Anderson then assembled his team of students by inviting them and through recommendations.
The team that went to the competition in Burlington was comprised of five students: senior Kinley Anderson, sophomore Ellis Bishop, sophomore Kiyoshi Smith, freshman Jesse Dlazo and freshmen Cameron Carter. Anderson said that each of the students had their own strengths that they brought going into the competition.
The Knowledge Bowl was a competition of academic knowledge separated into rounds where teams of four participated in answering trivia questions or completing written tests.
Ten Sleep's team was able to make it to the playoff round to compete for fourth versus teams from Riverside and Cody. Earning third place in this round gave them sixth place overall.
Anderson was happy with the outcome of Ten Sleep's involvement in the competition, considering his team's inexperience and the short time they spent preparing. He also looks forward to participating again in the future with his students that participated this year that will have experience to build on.
Anderson hopes that Ten Sleep will once again be participating in the Knowledge Bowl annually, and is looking into similar competitions that can challenge his students and grow their passion for learning.
