Young teams show promise

The middle school social studies team took first place in its division on Apr. 30. This is the first year for Bethany to field a middle school team. The team did not compete in other subject areas.

Following is an article by Mattie Lehman in April 29 Reflector regarding the high school teams.

The Academic Super Bowl season came to a close last week at the state qualifying competition. Bethany teams competed in the Fine Arts, Social Studies, English, Science, Interdisciplinary, and Math categories. The teams didn’t qualify for state, but were primarily composed of underclassmen who show promise for success in the coming years.

The Social Studies team, coached by Tim Lehman, experienced some relative success considering they were all freshman. Meeting occasionally on Sunday afternoons for a movie and team bonding, members were dedicated despite busy schedules. Hannah Gerig-Meyer coached the Fine Arts team which will be the only category affected by graduation as they lose major contributor Shina Park ’11.

The English team did not have the participants needed to compete in the first two of three competitions, but freshman Rachel Schrock ’14 represented the school as the sole team member in the state qualifier. The Math team, coached by Renae Yoder, struggled this year since team members were so young and a major portion of questions were related to Calculus theory. But the team should do well when they begin learning the subject during their senior year.

Bethany has experienced great success in past State competitions, but it has been a few years since a banner has been added to the gym wall. With Margaret Fisher’s coordination and the team’s young talent, Bethany seems to be on track to return to its former glory in the next few years.