Tioga Central advances in Scholarship Challenge
Published: February 28, 2010
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share thisWAVERLY, N.Y. - The 2010 Scholarship Challenge had its first tie-breaker of the year Saturday.
This week, Round Three of the competition featured two Bradford County schools - Wyalusing and Northeast Bradford school districts. They both fell to other teams in the event.
At end of the round three, the Tioga Central School District team was triumphant and advanced to the finals in March.
Karl Coddington, advisor for the Tioga Central team, said, "they really put in a lot of effort."
He noted that the team, which includes the top three students, are particularly knowledgeable when it comes to math and science questions. He said they will need to beef up their art and music knowledge as they prepare for the finals.
Tioga Central's victory advancing them to the finals came after it beat Elmira Southside High School by 150-70.
But it was the tie-breaker earlier in the competition that proved to be the real nail-biter for the audience Saturday.
During the event, host Chuck Carver told the audience that it was the first one of the year.
The tie-breaker became necessary when the Elmira Southside High School and Northeast Bradford teams both scored 110 points.
After three questions, the tie wasn't broken and a fourth one was asked.
It was worded, "Cutting a regular octahedron along a plane perpendicular to its apices will always yield what three-dimensional figure?"
The right answer was pyramid, which Elmira Southside High School answered correctly. The NEB team answered a trapezoidal prism, which was incorrect.
After the match, NEB advisor Melissa Tewksbury said the final tie-breaker question was a "stumper."
She thought it was exciting. "I haven't seen a tie-breaker in a while," she said.
In addition, she thought the NEB team did a good job and came up with a "reasonable" answer.
Though the contest was a little stressful, it was good competition, she said.
Sponsored by WATS/WAVR, the Scholarship Challenge, an academic quiz show-style program, draws contestants annually from school districts in the Twin Tiers as they vie for the Kwasnoski Cup. There are also monetary prizes.
Eric Hrin can be reached at (570) 297-5251; e-mail: reviewtroy@thedailyreview.com
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