Thanks to King Lear, Eastern wins Academic Bowl

The 14th annual Academic Bowl came down to the last question Saturday.
To win, Terryville High School’s team needed only to answer which of William Shakespeare’s kings once pointed out that gods “kill us for their sport.”
Its members guessed Richard III rather than the aging, shattered King Lear.
And with that wrong answer, Bristol Eastern High School’s four-person team captured a first-place finish over its perennial challengers from Bristol Central High School, St. Paul Catholic High School, Lewis Mills High School in Burlington and Terryville.
Eastern also picked up a first-place in the music category on the strength of singer Andrew Degan’s performance.
A St. Paul student, Nadine Fentner, got top honors in the public speaking category, for a persuasive address that argued against giving immigrants who entered the country illegally such benefits as driver’s licenses, in-state tuition at public colleges and the like.
“It is up to us as Americans to keep our own people first,” she said.
Fentner also nabbed a second-place finish in the poetry category in which Emily Ceskavich of Terryville emerged as the top pick. Ceskavich’s poem stated she would “rather leave life exhausted from the climb” than not to seek higher ground.
In the art competition, two Bristol Central students won.
In the two-dimensional category, Max Shorey got top honors for “My Brother” and in the three-dimensional category, Jamie Jewett’s “Portrait” won.
“I’m always amazed at the talent,” said Tom Monahan, the television newsman who has moderated the contest every year.
Central High singer Danielle Damboise said she was “really nervous at first” about standing before the crowd of about 200 to belt out a tune.
But, she said, “once I got out there and saw that nobody was going to bite me, I was fine.”
In the General Knowledge Bowl, teams of four from each of the five schools had to field questions on a range of topics, from Norman Mailer to geometry.
At one point, Central’s team clearly had no idea how to answer a question asking for the name of a popular cricket in Utah. “Mormon cricket,” they finally guessed. To much laughter, it turned out to be the correct answer.
St. Paul’s team confessed they didn’t know the name of the co-pilot on Charles Lindbergh’s famous trans-Atlantic flight in 1927.
“There’s a good reason,” Monahan replied. “Because he had no name. It was a solo flight.”
In the end, the competition was pretty close.
Eastern tallied 105 pointed compared to Terryville’s 100. St. Paul came in third with 85. Central racked up 65 point and Lewis Mills got 40. But former Bristol Mayor William Stortz, one of the judges, said Lewis Mills was unlucky in getting the hardest questions.
“It ain’t easy. That’s for sure,” Monahan said.
Among the 20 students in the team showdown, only two were girls – Beth Pond from St. Paul’s and Eastern’s Leyna Krauss.
During the public speaking contest, where each school had a single contestant, three of the students said they favored giving illegal immigrants the chance to have identification cards and other basic privileges while two, including the winner, argued against it.
Eastern’s Rob Saporito said “something must be done to keep our borders secure,” but allowing “fear and misunderstanding” to bar basic services for those who came illegally is wrong.
He called it “foolish, melodramatic, self-centered and asinine” to oppose simple services for illegal immigrants.
“If you want immigrants to learn English, why deny them access to a library?” Saporito asked.
“We need to allow them to prosper and fulfill their own American dream,” argued Paul Omichinski from Lewis Mills.
Janelle Roberge of Central said it “would be absurd to withhold identification cards” to people who lack proper immigration papers. She urged policies that would integrate immigrants into the larger society.
But Ross Milne of Terryville said laws must be obeyed. “Who are we to choose which laws we can ignore?”
Tunxis Community College President Cathryn Addy and former Mayor Bill Stortz judged the Quiz Bowl. Bristol Press Editor Bill Sarno judged the public speaking. Mary Lynn Gagnon judged the musical performances. And James Spinelli judged the art show.
First Bristol Federal Credit Union sponsored the bowl, as it has every year.
Nutmeg TV will air the Academic Bowl on cable channel 19 at 7 p.m. on three different days – March 22, March 30 and April 7. Copies can be purchased from the public access television station by calling (860) 793-2552.

By the way, Stortz told me that I should mention on here that Councilor Craig Minor "always comes" to the Academic Bowl, something the rest of the council normally doesn't attend.
Mayor Art Ward was also there. He told me that the event is a great educational showcase.
Stortz said he didn't know two of the answers in the team competition. I missed at least four, mostly because my math's rusty. But as Minor, Stortz and I agreed, it certainly helps to be older in this because we've picked up more history, geography, etc. over the years than teens can possibly have absorbed yet.

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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com