News…

The West Virginia Division of Culture and History (WVDCH) held the second regional tournament for the 2011 West Virginia History Bowl on Saturday, Feb. 12, at Jackson Middle School, Vienna, Wood County with competitors from West Virginia Regional Education Service Agency (RESA) District Five. Edison Middle School Team One, with students Sierra Alexander, Alex Belcher, Michael Inman and Alex Schreckengost, was the winner and Jackson Middle School Team Two, with Elissa Flozof, Swathi Mukkamala, Noah Mancuso and Margaret McGraw, was the runner up.

RESA Five is made up of students from Calhoun, Jackson, Pleasants, Ritchie, Roane, Tyler, Wirt and Wood counties. Competitors included seven teams from Edison Middle School (four teams), Parkersburg, Wood County; Jackson Middle School (two teams), Vienna, Wood County; and Pleasants County Middle School (one team), Belmont, Pleasants County.

The West Virginia History Bowl features questions about the state’s history, culture, heritage, tourism and people. Those questions are compiled by the staff of the Archives and History Section of the WVDCH with help from the West Virginia Division of Tourism.

The Archives and History staff has developed a field of more than 1,600 questions for the regional and state tournaments. Teams that are preparing for the History Bowl tournaments may use the Archives and History Daily Trivia, Quick Quizzes and Golden Horseshoe study guide as helpful tools from the Division’s website, www.wvculture.org/history/archivesindex.aspx.

Eighth graders in public, private and home school education programs are eligible to compete on the four-person teams in double-elimination tournament play. The regional winners and runner-up teams from each RESA district will then move forward to the state tournament which will take place April 26 at the Culture Center, State Capitol Complex in Charleston.

For more information about the annual competition, contact Bryan Ward, assistant director of archives and history for the Division and coordinator of the tournament, at (304) 558-0230.

The West Virginia Division of Culture and History is an agency within the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts with Kay Goodwin, Cabinet Secretary. The Division, led by Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, brings together the past, present and future through programs and services focusing on archives and history, arts, historic preservation and museums. For more information about the Division’s programs, events and sites, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

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