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The Letter Links beat out eight other teams in Fraser-Cascade reading competition

Homeschoolers take gold, with Coquihalla taking silver and Silver Creek bronze
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The Letter Links team are Presley Hollsworth, Ariel Lee, and Kiril Laughland. Submitted photo

The Letter Links team won first place at this year’s Reading Link Challenge regional competition at Sts’ailes Community School near Agassiz on Wednesday, April 11. Homeschoolers Presley Hollsworth, Ariel Lee, and Kiril Laughland narrowly edged out their closest competitors, the Donut Surfers team (2nd place) from Coquihalla Elementary School and the Bookworms team (3rd) from Silver Creek Elementary School.

Eight teams from the Fraser-Cascade School District, including Coquihalla and Silver Creek elementary schools, Agassiz Christian and Sts’ailes Community schools competed at this year’s challenge. The scores between competing teams were very close and everyone went away a winner.

Bill Dietrich, the Sts’ailes principal, was on hand to “throw the first pitch” at this popular event, that partners public libraries and schools. A crowd of parents, family and teachers enthusiastically cheered on their teams from the benches at this “Sport of Reading” event as teams huddled closely and then sent their runners-up to the judges’ table where three judges tabulated the scores.

Teams of six, or fewer, competitors answer three rounds of ten questions, based on six books the students have read and studied over the past six months. Hope Library supervisor Deb Ireland said she is impressed every year by all the hard work and dedication of everyone who participates – students, teachers, and parents. “The energy and enthusiasm of all the team members is always amazing. The children seldom even needed the full 30 seconds to get their answers in. These competitors really know their books!”

The Letter Links team now moves on to the next Challenge at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Langley on Wednesday, April 25. The competition begins at 7:00 p.m. and friends and family are encouraged to attend and to cheer the team on.

-Deb Ireland, Hope library supervisor