Students Compete in Academic Olympics

Almost 150 students participated in the Mehlville School District Academic Olympics held on Saturday, Feb. 26. The friendly competition allowed fourth through eighth graders to vie for awards in a number of events that showcased their academic abilities.

The annual event was moderated by retired Mehlville School District educators. The students look forward to stretching their minds, often spending months preparing.

“We practice after school every couple of weeks to prepare. For the students in the math competition, we meet more often – sometimes even several times a week,” Heather Muessig, STRETCH teacher for Oakville Middle School, said. Muessig had about 30 of her students participating in the Academic Olympics this year.

The elementary school students, grades fourth and fifth, kicked off the competition in the morning, followed by the middle school students in the afternoon. All students were divided by grade and allowed to compete in the following categories: math, spelling, storytelling (oratory for middle school students) and the scholar quiz. For the middle school competition, a writing event was also added. While the math and writing competitions were closed to spectators, family and friends who came to support the students were able to cheer them on during the scholar quiz, storytelling/oratory and spelling competitions.

The fast-paced scholar quiz segment pitted four-member teams against each other in an elimination-style competition. Each school had several teams; teams that answered the most questions correctly in each timed round advanced to the next level. The question categories were: social studies, current events, spelling, mathematics, science, health, communication arts, general and trivia. In the end, only one team was left standing and declared the winner. Point Elementary won the elementary school competition, while the Oakville Middle School team won their event.   

The competition also was fierce for seventh grader Jack Brendel, who has placed first in the spelling event for the past three years. Brendel's mother, Ann, helps him memorize the words each year.

“We review the words to see which ones he doesn't know. Then we study in rounds, only going over the words he isn't sure of. We try to do this at least every other night a couple weeks before the event,” she said.

This year, Jack Brendel misspelled the word “myriad,” and was awarded second place.

“It was harder because there were some words I've never seen before. Next year though, I'll be back in first place,” he said.

At the end of the day, the students who placed first, second, and third in each category were awarded medals and got to stand on an Olympic-style podium. For the elementary competition, Hagemann and Blades tied for most medals, with four a piece. Oakville Middle School was given 10 medals, the most awards in the middle school event.

The stringent preparation and hours of competition culminated with many cheers and smiles from the students during the award ceremony.

“The Academic Olympics help them shine academically. We always recognize students athletically, so this gives them a chance to be recognized for something else,” Muessig said.