Scholastic Bowl Competition 2025 season begins
“What are the only two mammals known to lay eggs?” Scholastic Bowl coach, Mr. David Meli, was at it again – quizzing the Akron High School student body during the daily announcements looking for students who are packed full of knowledge and trivia in pop culture, history, literature, sports and more.
Coach Meli, high school history teacher at Akron Schools, begins his twelfth year as the team’s coach, leading Akron’s finest scholars against top students from other area schools in the region’s radio league on WLVL and the Genesee Valley BOCES League.
The team kicked off the season at WLVL AM 1340/FM 105.3 on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, with Akron taking on Starpoint and Royalton-Hartland for the radio league. They’ll open competition at the Genesee Valley BOCES on State Street in Batavia, on Thursday, January 9, 2025, at 5:45 p.m., with Akron pitted against Attica, LeRoy, and Oakfield-Alabama high schools.
Eleven teams from area high schools including Akron, Pembroke, Alexander, Oakfield-Alabama, Attica, Alden, Notre Dame, Elba, Batavia, LeRoy, Byron-Bergen, and Pavilion will celebrate the thirty-sixth year of competition for Genesee Valley BOCES.
This year’s team for Akron Central High School consists of seniors Matt Kalinowski, Leo Muck and Hayden Wight; juniors Aron Gehl, Christopher Ginestre, Carly Hoffman, Bruce Karmazyn and Ava Lombard; sophomores Amon Bentley, Alyssa Jago, and Luke Piscitelli; and freshmen Caleb Hansen, George Laurey, Hannah Liss, Jesse Madden, Adelaide Mandell, Reagan Polkowski, Alex Shpakovsky, Brianna Wind, and Evan Yang.
Genesee Valley BOCES Enrichment Services will record some of the matches, particularly, the finals, and post them for viewing; however, the link is not available at this time.
Akron’s matches are scheduled for 5:45 p.m. or 6:45 p.m. Competition dates are as follows:
Thursday, January 9, 2025 5:45PM – Akron vs. Attica, LeRoy, Oakfield-Alabama
Wednesday, January 15, 2025 – 6:45PM Akron vs. Alexander & Pembroke
Thursday, January 23, 2025 – 6:45PM Akron vs. Pavilion & Byron-Bergen
Wednesday, February 5, 2025 – 5:45PM – Akron vs. Elba & Notre Dame
Wednesday, February 12, 2025 – 5:45PM – Akron vs. Alden & Batavia
Wednesday, February 26, 2025 – TBD – Semi-Finals
Thursday, February 27, 2025 – 5:45PM – Finals & Awards Ceremony
The team competes against Akron, Clarence, Starpoint, Medina, Royalton-Hartland, Wilson, Lockport and North Tonawanda in the radio league at WLVL AM 1340/FM 105.3 in Lockport. Fans are encouraged to tune in for the competition dates as follows:
Tuesday, January 14, 2025 – 5:00PM – Akron vs. Clarence & Lockport
Tuesday, January 21, 2025 – 5:00PM – Akron vs. Medina & Wilson
Tuesday, January 28, 2025 – 5:00PM – Akron vs. Clarence & N. Tonawanda
Tuesday, February 4, 2025 – 5:00PM – Akron vs. N. Tonawanda & Wilson
Thursday, February 6, 2025 – 5:00PM – Akron vs. Lockport & Starpoint
Playoffs are March 3rd with the Final on March 5th.
Did you know the answer? Platypuses and echidnas are monotremes, the only group of living mammals that lay eggs, rather than bearing live young.