News…

The West Virginia Division of Culture and History (WVDCH) held the eighth and final regional tournament for the 2011 West Virginia History Bowl on Saturday, March 26, at Charleston Catholic High School, Charleston, Kanawha County, with competitors from West Virginia Regional Education Service Agency (RESA) District Three. Sissonville Middle School Team One, with students Erica Garnes, Ellie McClung, Candice Pritt and James Shafer, was the winner and Horace Mann Middle School, with students Logan Necuzzi, Christian Rowe, Mark Schlies and Joe Schwartz, was the runner up.

RESA Three is made up of students from Boone, Clay, Kanawha and Putnam counties. Competitors included six teams from Charleston Catholic Middle School, Charleston, Kanawha County; DuPont Middle School, Belle, Kanawha County; George Washington Middle School, Eleanor, Putnam County; Horace Mann Middle School, Charleston, Kanawha County; and Sissonville Middle School (two teams), Charleston, Kanawha 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.

The Archives and History staff has developed more than 1,700 questions for its on-line Quick Quizzes. 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.

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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