East Cobb Schools in Reading Bowl

Students from several East Cobb schools will be participating in the Cobb County School District's Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl on Saturday. 

Representing East Cobb will be , Shallowford Falls and Tritt elementary schools, and and middle schools. 

Mabry Middle School and Sprayberry High School from Northeast Cobb also will be involved in the academic competition.

Nearly one-third of all schools will be partipating in the 5th annual Reading Bowl, named for a former DeKalb County school media specialist who was looking for a way to motivate the students at her school to read more.

High school students must read the nominated books for the Georgia Teen Peach Book Award. Middle and elementary students must read the nominated books for the Georgia Book Awards.

Winners of the Cobb competition will advance to the regional level bowl at the University of West Georgia on Feb. 4. 

The Cobb County bowl begins with a parade of schools in the McEachern High School’s Performing Arts Center; followed by six rounds of competition.

Two teams face off for a fast 10 factual question match. To respond to a question, competitors use a game show style buzzer system. The first student to buzz responds. If he/she answers correctly their team earns 10 points. So, speed is as important as accuracy. 

Winning teams are those that earn the most cumulative points. This and the round robin nature of the competition makes it is virtually impossible to know which team will win until the closing ceremony.