April 23, 2014

 News…

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Division of Culture and History will hold its fifth annual State History Bowl Championship on Tuesday, April 29, at the Culture Center, State Capitol Complex, Charleston. Twenty-four teams of eighth graders from 18 schools in 15 counties will vie for the championship title. Activities begin with a general assembly at 9 a.m., followed by the first round of competition at 9:30 a.m.

Guest moderators, including Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, First Lady Joanne Jaeger Tomblin, Department of Commerce Cabinet Secretary Keith Burdette, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District R. Booth Goodwin II, Chancellor of Higher Education Policy Commission Dr. Paul Hill, Del. Linda Sumner (R-Raleigh) and Sesquicentennial Commission member Larry Swann, will preside over several sessions.

The double-elimination tournament includes lightning rounds and team rounds featuring questions about state and county history, culture, geography, government, heritage, sports and tourism prepared by the staff of the division’s Archives and History section.

The Archives and History staff developed more than 1,800 questions for its online Quick Quizzes. Teams preparing for the tournament use the Archives and History Daily Trivia and Quick Quizzes 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 district and the top eight teams from a play-in competition will compete in the tournament final. The play-in competition was held to accommodate schools that were unable to compete in their regional round because of inclement weather and school closings. It also was open to all schools throughout the state that wanted to get a second chance in the History Bowl tournament.

Competitors include the following teams:

Andrew Jackson Middle School                                 Cross Lanes, Kanawha County
Braxton County Middle School                                   Sutton, Braxton County
Cameron High School (2 teams)                                 Cameron, Marshall County
Duval Middle School                                                  Griffithsville, Lincoln County
Edison Middle School                                                 Parkersburg, Wood County
Fairview Middle School                                              Fairview, Marion County
Frankfort Middle School                                             Ridgeley, Mineral County
Jackson Middle School (2 teams)                               Vienna, Wood County
Moorefield Middle School                                          Moorefield, Hardy County
Mountaineer Middle School (2 teams)                        Morgantown, Monongalia County
Ravenswood Middle School                                       Ravenswood, Jackson County
Shady Spring Middle School (2 teams)                       Shady Spring, Raleigh County
Sissonville Middle School                                           Sissonville, Kanawha County
St. Joseph the Worker School                                    Weirton, Hancock County
Summersville Middle School (2 teams)                       Summersville, Nicholas County
Taylor County Middle School                                    Grafton, Taylor County
Wayne Middle School (2 teams)                                Wayne, Wayne County
Weir Middle School                                                   Weirton, Hancock County

For more information, contact Debra Basham, assistant director of Archives and History and coordinator of the tournament for the division, 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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