C. A. Gray's reading bowl team has been working diligently all year with one goal in mind: to compete at the highest level in Gainesville, Georgia in March. Tomecon, the culminating event for participants of the Tome Society, is held on the University of North Georgia's campus each year. This nonprofit organization provides "a diverse menu of digital student competitions; an annual book award list of new, clean, fun-to-read children's and young adult literature titles; student book club activities; curriculum materials for educators; and the Tomecon annual conference for both students and educators."
The students on Gray's team of 8th and 9th graders have read and studied ten different books from the Tome list during this school year. They have met during clubs and before school. Team members each created a project based on one of these ten books including videos, poetry, essays, art and more. They have studied hard and placed 10th, then 4th, then 3rd on their online book exams throughout the year.
Thanks to all of their hard work, these students beat out fifty-two other schools and have earned a spot in the “final four” competition on March 14th. They will be the first team - in the history of C. A. Gray’s six years of Tome competition - to compete live in the final round at Tomecon.
Club advisor Ms. Melanie Turner writes, "I am extremely proud of the hard work that my students have put into our team this year. Most of their reading, studying, and project development has to be completed at home and before school in the media center. While I have had teams place in the top four during Covid-affected years, I'm so excited to watch this team compete live, in-person at Tomecon on March 14th. We will also get to attend sessions and workshops led by the authors whose works we've read this year. There's no place like Tome."
Find out more about Tome here.