Liberty County Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl

Reading is passion for many of the students in the Liberty County School System. With help from school media specialists, classroom teachers, and instructional technology staff members a passion for reading can also mean an academic competition, the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl!

Each year elementary and middle school students interested in participating in the student reading competition read books from the Georgia Children’s Book Award Nominee list for the current school year on their level. Students in the fourth and fifth grade qualify for participation in the bowl. This year elementary students read from a list containing eighteen books. The middle school reading list contained twenty books. In addition to reading books from the required list, students work as a team to create practice questions to review the facts from each book and prepare for the bowl by scrimmaging with a hand-held buzzer system.

Interested high school students also prepare for the bowl by reading, creating review questions, and scrimmaging with a hand-held buzzer system, but their reading list is taken from the Georgia Peach Book Awards for Teen Readers. The list for this year contained twenty books.

The middle and high school student teams participated in the Liberty County Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl on January 27th at the Board of Education. All of the middle and high schools were represented by a student team. Several principals and parents attended to root for their school team. Student teams competed through six rounds of questions taken from their required reading list, for a total of sixty questions asked. Student teams were enthusiastic and well-mannered.

The first place team for the middle school level was Midway Middle School. The MMS team was coached by their media specialist, Mrs. Cristina Dover. Lewis Frasier Middle School’s team took second place, and was coached by Mrs. Sharon Dunham.

At the high school level, Liberty County High School earned first place in the county reading bowl. The LCHS team was coached by Ms. Kay Williams, a media specialist for the high school. Mrs. Sarah Hein, a teacher at LCHS, served as an assistant coach. Bradwell Institute’s reading bowl team took second place and was coached by Ms. Diana Clark. Ms. Clark is a media specialist at Bradwell. Her assistant coach was Mrs. Deborah Starkey, a teacher at Bradwell.

The elementary Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl was held January 29th at the Board of Education. Every elementary school was represented by a team. Several principals attended to support their team. Parent attendance was also very high, filling the board room with eager spectators. The elementary teams participated in seven rounds of questions from their required reading list, for a total of seventy questions. Each round was very close and all of the student teams were very well-read.

Joseph Martin Elementary School took first place in the reading bowl. Mrs. Elaine Walker, the school media specialist, was the lead coach. She was assisted by Mrs. Elaine Dasher, Mrs. Rose Mack, and Ms. Rebecca Smith, both teachers at Joseph Martin. Button Gwinnett Elementary School’s team placed second in the reading bowl. Mrs. Tory Baker, the school media specialist, was the coach for the Button Gwinnett team. Mrs. Baker’s assistant coach was Mrs. Anttonia Hofmann, the media paraprofessional at BGE.

The first and second place teams from elementary, middle, and high school will advance to the Southern Regional Helen Ruffin Reading bowl being held February 6th at Valdosta State University. After the regional bowl, winning teams will advance to a divisional bowl, and lastly the Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl. Both Joseph Martin Elementary and Liberty County High School have previously attended the state level of the competition. This year also promises to be a record setting year for the Liberty County School System!


Button Gwinnett’s HRRB Team
Pictured here: Front Row: Yulissa David, Damian Lustiano, Dameon McIntire
Back Row: I’Teaona Wells, Tory Baker- Media Specialist, Anttonia Hofmann- Media Assistant, Ryan Clow, Carlos Miller, and Nikita White

Joseph Martin Elementary HRRB Team:
Pictured here: Front row l to r: Spencer Jones, Isaiah Quarterman, Yash Patel Back row l to r: Emmaline Menger, Uyen-Vy Hoang, Ah’Shaiyah Mitchell, Raha Davis, Dayle McCallar

Midway Middle School’s HRRB Team:
Pictured here: L to R:
Top row: C. Dover, KiAmbrielle Queen, Stephen Langford, Mikia Frazier, Ajile Owens, Amanda Dollar, Clayton Grant
Bottom row: Tiffany Erickson, Jayden Trotter, Alan Cain

Lewis Fraiser Middle School’s HRRB Team
Pictured here:
Front (left to right): Jordan Graham, Cassity Chambers, Melana Linville
Back (left to right): Precious Wright, Thais Sanchez, Tiara Taylor, Jourdin Bailey, Rebekah Kim, Patience Wright, and Sharon Dunham, Coach.

Bradwell Institute HRRB Team:
Pictured here: Back row: Natalie Sharp, Ron Barnes, Brittani Ford, Tyrique Golphin
Front row: Samantha O’Neal, Jada Donald, Susan Mason, Kiana Brown, Erina Veliz

Liberty County HRRB Team
Pictured here:
Team picture, L – R: Mrs. Sarah Hein, Scott Stroup, Demi Glisson, Josh Hutto, Keith Lemay, Rachel Trawick, Khameron Mitchem, Chazare’ Riley, Felisha Burks, Ms. Kay Williams.