Area students gathered to test each other's knowledge this week as Purdue University North Central hosted their ninth annual Porter County Academic Super Bowl Invitational and their eighth annual La Porte County Senior Academic Super Bowl Invitational on Wednesday and Thursday at their campus in Westville.
Students from all nine Porter County High Schools will competed in the senior-division event on Wednesday. Participating schools were: Boone Grove High School, Chesterton High School, Hebron High School, Kouts High School, Morgan Township High School, Portage High School, Valparaiso High School, Washington Township High School and Wheeler High School.
On Thursday, Purdue North Central hosted schools from La Porte, Elkhart, Starke and White Counties. Participating schools were: La Porte High School; Marquette High School of Michigan City; LaCrosse High School; Oregon-Davis High School of Hamlet; South Central High School, Union Mills; Elkhart Christian Academy; North White High School of Monon and a team of home schooled students, representing Lake, Porter and La Porte counties.
“We started this eight and nine years ago,” said Purdue University North Central Chancellor, James Dworkin. “It’s a wonderful event for the students. They get asked questions in a variety of areas and we have several of our faculty, whether in English or chemistry, ask questions and it’s like a quiz bowl and they answer questions. Like I try and tell the students every year, we make a big deal about athletic competitions and being great in athletics but I think we ought to make just as big of a deal about academic competitions and being a superstar in academics. That’s why I think this is such an important thing to do.”
The 2016 competition theme is "Hoosier Heritage." Students took part in the rigorous competition covering six subject areas - English, science, fine arts, social studies, math and interdisciplinary. Trophies were given to the winning school in each subject area as well as to the overall winner. Ribbons were awarded to every individual who competed for first, second and third place finishers.
“The kids really look forward to it and our readers love to read!” said PNC’s Coordinator of Special Events and Marketing, Liz Bernel. “So much of the campus is part of this. Food service is part of it along with the people who set it up and campus police. We just love having these kids here and I think they’re getting to know each other. They get to know the other schools and the other parents, and the home schooled kids come with their families. This year we were happy to have South Central here for the first time. It’s just such a fun thing.”
Academic Super Bowl competition in Indiana is part of the Indiana Association of School Principals, Department of Student Programs. It is a unique interscholastic academic competition which allows Indiana's senior high, junior, middle and elementary school students the opportunity to compete in academics similar to the way youth compete in athletics. These competitions recognize, reward and celebrate scholars.