The number of schools and competitors were down at Friday’s 53rd annual Chadron State College Scholastic Contest, with 49 high schools…one fewer than in 2012 and 1,154 students…down from last year’s 1,427.
Competition was offered in 40 different areas this year. Perennial sweepstakes champion Rapid City Stevens took honors in Division 1…picking up its 26th overall title, 9th in the last 10 years, and 6th straight.
Sidney and St Thomas More of Rapid City each won for the 3rd straight year…taking the Division 2 and 3 crowns, respectively. The Division IV winner was Rapid City Christian while Banner County took honors in Division V.
There were 12 contests who won multiple medals including 2 who each won 2 golds: Gina Elmore of Hot Springs and Kayla Gade of Mitchell. Gade was 1st in Vocabulary and English Usage, while Elmore claimed top honors in Equine Management and Agronomy and Rangeland Management.
There was one triple medalist this year: Nicholas Sieger of St. Thomas More. Sieger was 1st in Physics, 2nd in Trigonometry, and 3rd in Earth Science.
Chadron and Hot Springs each had 2 double medalists. In addition to Elmore, Hot Springs had Kassia Symstad, 1st in Flash Fiction and 2nd in Vocabulary while Chadron had Lane Chasek, 1st in Advanced Math and 2nd in General Anatomy and Physiology, and Abigail McFee, 2nd in both Vocabulary and English Usage.
Colton White of Imperial-Perkins County won in Business Law and was 2nd in American Government, while Rebecca Hostick of Anselmo-Merna High School was 2nd in accounting and Personal Finance. All the remaining double medalist had a 2nd and 3rd.
They were: James Neeley – Gordon-Rushville 2nd in Business Management Decision Making and 3rd Vocabulary; Ariana Montes – Rapid City Stevens 2nd in American Government and 3rd in General Anatomy; Jeff Post – Bridgeport 2nd in Physics and 3rd in Advanced Math; Kaitlin Reece – Valentine 2nd in Equine Management and 3rd in Veterinary Sciences.
Each senior who won first place in a contest receives a Scholastic Achievement Award, a one-year waiver of the in-state portion of tuition to CSC for the 2013-2014 school year.
Medals were awarded to the top three places in each test, with Certificates of Merit going to those finishing in the top 25% of each test. All awards will be mailed to the winners next week.
Chadron State clubs and organizations provided a number of activities for the high school students while they were not in tests .
Those included the human genome trivia scavenger hunt, poetry and prose readings, country swing dancing, a CSC football practice, and the Eagle Cook-Off…held in the Burkhiser building food preparation lab.
Contest results were displayed on large screens in the CSC Student Center throughout the morning as tests were completed and can be seen online at: www.csc.edu/scholastic/results/index.php. Photos can be seen on the CSC Facebook page and in the Chadron State News Gallery on Smugmug.