Young Dougherty County scholars again impress

Four members of The Albany Herald team, once again, were privileged on Thursday to participate in a Dougherty County School System activity that, in many ways, reassures us of the future of our community, state and nation.

Each year on the first Thursday of December, some dedicated students, teachers and parents gather at a conference room at Phoebe East for the Dougherty County Middle Schools Academic Bowl. Buzzers in hand, each school has five team members who listen to “toss-up” questions and have a maximum of 10 seconds to buzz in first with the answer.

A successful response leads to the respondent’s team getting a bonus question, and the process continues until 10 toss-up questions have been posed. The contests continue until all but one team have two losses in their column.

This year, four middle schools participated — Robert Cross, Albany Middle, Radium Springs and Merry Acres. Robert Cross was the lone undefeated team and, as it has often done over the years, the school claimed ownership of the Christine Blaylock Cup trophy, named for the late Dougherty County School Board member, for another year.

While Robert Cross won Dougherty County bragging rights, all four teams advance to the regionals, since each school district can have up to four representations.

Once again, we were impressed by the breadth of knowledge that the young students displayed in subjects ranging from grammar and literature to math and science to geography and history to arts and sports. The study and preparation that the students underwent before the event was apparent. Regardless of the quickness on the buzzer or whether each question was answered correctly, each student reflected positively on his or her team coaches, teachers, school and parents.

We also found once again that these young scholars are some of the most courteous and well behaved we have met. Quite frankly, we at The Herald are honored that the coordinator of this annual Academic Bowl, Roderick Pollock — who deserves thanks for the job he does — and school district officials give us this opportunity to, in a small way, participate in the students’ academic pursuits.

If you’ve never attended one of these Academic Bowls, we encourage you to drop in next December. It’s an experience we believe you will appreciate.

And to our community’s young scholars, best of luck at regionals. We’ll be pulling for you!

— The Albany Herald Editorial Board