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Contests

There are currently 14 contests presented during the annual Academic Rodeo.

A representative from the School or Group registers the group for each Contest of interest and its appropriate levels by completing the online School/Group Contest Registration Form (Getting Started page) August 1 through October 15. Groups may register after October 15, but may not be eligible to register for some contests already in progress.

Contests may be added or dropped using the Add/Drop online form (link on General Info page and each Contest page), but please do so in a timely manner.

Click the image links in the list of Contests below to learn more about each Contest or to locate resources, forms, or schedules for each contest.

For more information about Academic Rodeo contests, contact Deborah Newman.

Academic Challenge Quiz

(Middle & High School)

Exciting, fast-paced contests in a quiz bowl format involving questions from: Current Events, English, Literature, Fine Arts, Geography, History and Social Science, Language and Vocabulary, Mathematics, Science, and more.

Agriculture Identification Contest

(Grades 3-12)

Students identify agricultural products - food, fiber, and ornamental - and answer questions about the product, its production and harvest, and its uses in everyday life.

Art Contest

(Grades 1-12)

Students submit drawings or paintings representing subjects of their choice. Art is judged by grade level.

Computer Science Fair

(Grades 3-12)

Designed to showcase the skills of students in a variety of different categories including: Desktop Publishing, Multimedia, Digital Video, Web Page Design, and Programming.

Drama Festival

(Middle and High School)

The Drama Festival is for middle school and high school students interested in theater arts and is designed to give these students a positive theater experience that fosters participation in, commitment to, and appreciation of quality theater. Middle School groups present One Act Plays. High School groups present Monologues, Duologues, Musical Theater Solos, or Musical Theater Ensembles.

Engineering Challenge

(Elementary - Middle School)

The Engineering Challenge tests the engineering and problem solving skills of elementary and middle school students. Teams of 4 students build a Mars Rover from Legos which must perform a variety of tasks testing its design and the team's knowledge and experiences in developing the Rover.

Kinder Critters

(Kindergarten)

Students create a "Critter" using everyday items such as cotton balls, toothpicks, playdough, pinecones, etc. which is placed in a shoe box for display and then judged based on creativity of the design and use of the materials.

Mathletics

(Grades 4 & 5)

The contest for 4th and 5th Grade students combines a written test format which identifies the top math students and the Top 10 Teams which advance to a Final Round with cooperative and hands-on challenges.

Mindset Breaking Experience

(Primary K-2, Intermediate 3rd-5th, Middle 6th-8th, and High School 9th-12th)

A team competition in which each team of 5 to 7 members demonstrates its collective ability to think divergently in solving problems and be scored on the creativity and effectiveness of the solution.

Pentathlon

(High School)

A 5-round event involving math, science, technology, and engineering for teams of 4 students.

Science Fair

(Grades 3-12; Grades K-2nd Class Display projects)

Students explore and demonstrate their science knowledge as they complete scientific experiments in various categories, create models of scientific processes, or create scientific illustrations.
An opportunity is also available for classes of Kindergarten through 2nd Grade students to create group experimental projects for display.

Spelling Bee

(Grades 2 & 3)

Students compete as a grade level and continue to receive words to spell in increasing difficulty until a word is missed.

Writing Contest

(Grades 4-12)

Students are given a prompt as a basis for their essay. Essays are completed in a single class sitting of 1 hour and are then submitted for judging.

Youth Fashion Show

(Grades 3-12)

Students show off their fashion expertise in one of five divisions: CONSTRUCTION (traditional construction of a garment), NONTRADITIONAL CONSTRUCTION (garments created from duct tape, recycling products, paper, etc. and created without sewing), SMART BUYING (comparison shopping to purchase a garment for a specific occasion), DESIGN INSPIRATION (NEW - embellishing or repurposing a clothing item), and EVENT PLAN & DESIGN (MS & HS students plan and design the Fashion Show stage).
Each student completes a worksheet which accounts for 40 to 70% of the overall score and then models the garment in a traditional Fashion Show.