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BASD reading champs: Three local teams compete in Reading Competition

BELLEFONTE -- Bellefonte Area School District has had great success in Reading Competition this year.

Three teams from two elementary schools -- Marion-Walker and Bellefonte -- have worked hard to represent their school and the district.

Students were asked to read at least three of the 21 books on the Reading Competition list. According to coaches, all of the students rose to that challenge and tore through books -- many of them reading over 10 from the list. Some students even read all 21 books.

While most of the books were fiction books, some were very challenging, nonfiction texts they would have to remember.

Students were tasked with remembering minute details of the books that they've read over the course of a few months -- the students had to read closely, and retain what they read in order to excel in the competition.

During the intense rounds, students have 10 seconds to answer questions presented to them about any of the 21 books.

Coaches are not allowed to interfere during the rounds, so every action made during the round is entirely the students.

"Sara (Wolfe) and I are extremely proud of how hard the students worked to prepare for the competition. They were excited to read different books, exposing them to new authors and genres. On the day of the competition they worked well as a team and showed good sportsmanship in their wins and losses," said Thea Leddy, Bellefonte Elementary coach and Reading Specialist.

"Joining a Reading Competition team means committing yourself to setting aside your own free time to read lots of books, including books you may not have chosen on your own. They each grew as readers during the process and learned many important lessons about sportsmanship and working together as a team," said Marion-Walker Elementary coach Colleen DeFonzo.

At Marion-Walker Elementary they had 24 students sign up to participate in the competition, allowing the coaches to split them into two teams of 12 students.

They began practicing at the end of January, once a week after school, for around an hour and a half.

"During our practices we would take the time to teach them the rules of the competition and run our practices with mock questions to get them ready for the real event," said DeFonzo.

The competition had 17 teams total competing; it took place on April 15, and the students all did an excellent job. It was the first time since the pandemic that the school was able to participate

Marion-Walker Elementary had two teams this year, the Nonfiction Phoenixes, coached by Katy Haagen, Reading Specialist, and comprised of Adalyn Brownell, Maximus Aberegg, Tristan Long, Kathryn Huss, Olivia Weaver, Whitney Hendershot, Briley Stover, Bowen Williams, Brock Hettinger, Katie Spotts, Emalynn Eaton and Nolan Francisco.

The Nonfiction Phoenixes took second place in the competition, meaning they had the second highest total points out of all 17 teams.

The second Marion-Walker team was the Literary Lions, coached by Colleen DeFonzo, fifth grade teacher, and comprised of Ali Blackburn, Jensen Bressler, Kaitlynne Hosterman, Martin Lopez, Jacob Schellenberg, Emma Buzard, Landry Hockenberry, Asher Summers, Alissa Kyte-Yech, Addie Emery, Carson Decker and Natalie DeFonzo.

Bellefonte Elementary's team, called the Reading Raiders, was coached by Thea Leddy and Sara Wolfe, third grade teacher. The team was made up of fourth and fifth graders, Natalie Kulago, Euen Coslo, Cayley Zimmerman, Ryan Edwards, Emma Crater, Alayna Wert, Olivia Menna, Alyson Zdenek, Trygg Evert and Henry Hoff.

The Literary Lions and Reading Raiders engaged in a very intense tie-breaker round for third place, but ultimately the Literary Lions lost to their fellow BASD team. This round took place in the gymnasium in front of all of the spectators and participants.

The Marion-Walker coaches had some interesting statistics about their students and their reading, something they'd prepared for the pep rally held before the competition.

"As a whole our school read a total of 152 books and 35,478 pages were read by our students," said DeFonzo.

"We are very proud of all of our students for the hard work they put into the Reading Competition. Not only did they perform well, but they represented our district and our school respectfully," said DeFonzo, "We had a lot of fun coaching these students, and are looking forward to next year. We also appreciate the support of our school board, our administrators and the families of our students."