CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Two dozen teams of eighth graders from across West Virginia put their knowledge of state history to the test – under pressure – during Tuesday’s 6th Annual West Virginia History Bowl at the state Culture Center in Charleston.
“I studied for 12 years, it felt like, and I brushed my teeth this morning and did all of that stuff, did the us(ual),” said Kate Belmont, a student at Summersville Middle School, when asked about her preparations for the competition.
Her team’s captain, Brayden Hornsby, was hurt in a soccer game on Monday night and had to miss Tuesday’s event.
“He had the most (questions) out of everybody, probably,” said Caden Phipps, another member of the Summersville team. “We each had to learn, like, 200 more questions last night.”
MetroNews found Amaya Insani, a student at Fairview Middle School, running through questions one more time before the competition Tuesday morning at the Culture Center with her teammates, Jessica Bleigh, Shelby Chisler and Abby Pride.
“We’ve been studying since (last) summer,” Insani said. “Each of us have about 500 (questions).”
Teams advanced through brackets during the day Tuesday.
Kay Goodwin, secretary for the state Department of Education and the Arts, was one of the moderators. “I like the young people and their involvement and the enthusiasm for something academic is absolutely fabulous,” she said. “This is exciting for history and for our kids.”
First Lady Joanne Jaeger Tomblin agreed. “Anytime you have an event with young people, it’s fun and they’ve worked so hard for years, literally, a couple of them are two years trying to get into this competition,” she said.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin also served as a moderator for the event. Other moderators included Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, state Division of Culture and History Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, state Archives and History Director Joe Geiger, MVB Bank Chief Marketing Officer Aly Goodwin Gregg, Tournament Director Matt McGrew and others.
Many of the participants in Tuesday’s History Bowl are also knights and ladies of the Golden Horseshoe Society.
Quick quizzes were available at the website for the West Virginia History Bowl through the state Division of Culture and History.