Walnut Grove Places 3rd in Georgia’s Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl

Walnut Grove’s Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl team placed third in last weekend’s  competition at Loganville High School. 
By: Annabelle Adams and Lauren Brandt

Walnut Grove’s Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl team placed third in last weekend’s  competition at Loganville High School. The team consisted of Sam Smith, Mackenzie Ragan, Keira Wilson, and Zoey Olawumi and was led by Mrs. Watson and Ms. Whitehurst.

Mackenzie Ragan mentions that in order to learn all they could, the team had to do a variety of things. “We read books and then did Quizlets on the books, and we met every Thursday and sometimes met on Tuesdays,” Ragan states.

For many members, it was not their first time competing in the reading bowl, but for others, this was not the case. Walnut Grove junior, Zoey Olawumi, recalls her first time at the competition by stating, “I thought the competition was really intimidating at first, but the more rounds we went through, it got really fun. Plus, you start to realize that everyone there is just as nervous as you, too, so you get more comfortable throughout the competition.” 

They started preparing in September because they got the book list late. The members agreed that this hurt their performance because they couldn’t prepare as much as the other teams. Olawumi mentions her thoughts on their performance, “I think we would have definitely done better if we had more people on the team and more time to read the books.”

The HRRB website says that the competition was started in Dekalb County in 1986, the reading bowl has continued to grow over the years, including its growth to other counties in the state of Georgia. Helen Ruffin Reading Bowls are reading competitions that ask students questions about books from 20 Georgia Book Award nominees from each year. Students must then specialize in the information about these books before they compete.

Team member Sam Smith concludes, “I think we can improve next year by practicing earlier.” The current members also agree that, “having more people on the team will help us do better next time.”