Fine Arts 5th in State!

With lots of hard work and determination Bethany's fine arts Academic Superbowl team pulled off an amazing first place finish at the Apr. 21 district competition that led to an eventual fifth-place finish in the May 8 state competition! This continued the success that Bethany has experienced over the years, as Bethany has qualified at least one team for the state competition in every year but one since the superbowl started in 1987. See Academic Superbowl history.

While the team (Ji Eun Han, Stella Kim, John Thornton, Shina Park, Dona Park, and You Jin Bae) was hopeful they might place higher at the state competition, coaches were pleased with what the team accomplished this year--especially considering two factors that made this achievement especially rewarding.

First, due to other school conflicts the team was unable to participate in other superbowl competitions prior to the district qualifier. "This gave them a distinct competitive disadvantage--not having the experience of competing, participating in practice questions, and becoming familiar with the process," said Bethany's Academic Superbowl coordinator Jennifer Lucas Germeyan.

A second significant factor is that four of the five students on the team are from South Korea and were competing on this year's subject of "An American Generation: 1964-80." Part of the contest instructions encouraged participants talk with their parents about their experiences during this time period--which left the Bethany team with an obvious disadvantage.

"What this team achieved is amazing," says coach Margaret Fisher. "To try and understand the significance of what they achieved, imagine American youth competing against South Korean youth on South Korean culture! What they have acheived is a testament to their enthusiasm and hard work."

Margaret, who was the co-coach along with Hannah Gerig Meyer, also noted that at the Apr. 21 competition, Bethany's team was the only one that answered all five of the tiebreaker questions correctly, which are usually considered the toughest questions.

At the district competition, the social studies also did well, placing second but not scoring high enough to advance to state. Social studies team members are Ben Hochstetler, Jared Miller, and Jeff Yoder came in second.