Hamilton’s Third Place Victory: Battle of the Books
Sarah Gerovac
Each year, Hamilton High School sends four students to compete in Battle of the Books. This year, seniors Ellie Decleene and Nikki Nair, who have participated since middle school, as well as team members Sophia Heyn, Sydney Vande Hei, and Peyton Impola (Alternate) represented Hamilton at the competition.
This event is based around information from 20 books that the competitors read beforehand, and students must recall specific information from each novel in order to answer questions correctly and score highly for their teams. They must be able to remember details about characters, settings, plots, and other parts of books, and their ability to retain the information they read is tested throughout the competition in questions that many readers who simply skim through a book would not be able to answer.
There are many reasons to partake in Battle of the Books, and member Nikki Nair stated, “I love to read, but I always have trouble finding books, so Battle of the Books was the perfect place for me because they give us a diverse book list.” Good book recommendations are a crucial part of a good reading experience, so it’s clear why this would be such a benefit.
Nair also noted, “Since we got tested on our reading comprehension, Battle of the Books also made me a smarter reader with a better memory. I’ve been in this program since 6th grade, and it’s so exciting to see the growth and effort from all of the team members. I’m especially proud of our team this year. We started practicing later than normal, but we still placed third at state!” Participating in this event is clearly an amazing way to grow personal reading skills as well as compete with them, and we congratulate all members of the Battle of the Books team for their exciting accomplishment.
In spite of heavy competition with 58 other teams throughout the state, Hamilton’s team has managed to place in the top three for the past three years. Placing third in this year’s competition, our seniors are thrilled to end their high school Battle of the Books careers on a victorious note.
