Great coaching and teamwork were the winning combination for Ravenwood High at the Battle of the Minds: Sara Bayrd American History Bowl on Thursday, February 23 at Brentwood City Hall.
The annual event is sponsored by the Brentwood Historic Commission (BHC) and is named after longtime Advanced Placement (AP) history teacher at Brentwood High. High school AP history students from across Williamson County compete for the coveted trophy and prize money. Ravenwood held their lead in the Final Jeopardy round winning with 15,000 points and taking the award back to their campus for the first time. Second place went to Independence, and third to Brentwood after a tie breaker round with Franklin.
Each of the three schools was presented a check by Sherry Hammond, chair of the BHC, and the participants each received a gift card. Chuck Sherrill, retired State Librarian and Archivist was the questioner, and Dustin Goforth, assistant director of the John P. Holt Library was the emcee. Both provided lively commentary and humor which added to the enjoyment of the event. Event sponsors were The Kaplan Family, Andrews Transportation Group (Commissioner Nelson Andrews attended), Celero Company, Mary Lee Bunch Associates, Marla Richardson with Parks Realty, and Rhea Little’s Tire and Auto.
The students take history very seriously and spend many hours preparing for the History Bowl. Their poise, self-confidence and courage to answer tough questions in front of an audience is inspiring. They also exude a youthful sense of humor, such as Johan Gigme from Ravenwood. When asked about his areas of strength and weakness, his reply was, “My strongest area is political history, elections, presidents. My weakest is cultural history, such as questions about ‘I Love Lucy.'”
For more information, visit brentwoodtn.gov.
