Liberty captures 2004-05 SCIL championship

Sullivan West places second in the May 12 challenge and for the year

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LIBERTY, NY — For their final problem-solving mission of the 2004-05 school year, students from the Sullivan County Interacademic League (SCIL) teams assembled in Hanofee Park to hear Monticello High School English Teacher Peter Weinman and SCIL director Brian Tingley describe the task of an academic race entitled, “A Message to Garcia.”

The challenge of the day involved a fun blend of physical and intellectual tasks, which culminated with a skit based on the ideas conveyed in the world-renowned essay known as “A Message to Garcia.”

In 1899 after the Spanish American War, Elbert Hubbard wrote and published “A Message to Garcia.” He described the stalwart, determined character of a man named Rowan who delivered a message from President McKinley to the leader of the insurgency in Cuba by the name of Garcia. By all accounts, Rowan reached Cuba in four days on an open boat and headed into the jungle with the message in tow. According to the essay, “In three weeks he came out on the other side of the Island having traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered the letter to Garcia.”

Hubbard’s essay celebrates the idea of overcoming a challenge without offering a litany of excuses or reasons why one’s efforts are bound to fail. The essay was translated into many languages and was published all around the world, and Weinman felt it would be a great theme for the final SCIL challenge.

Students from each team had to read the essay and then present a skit that in some way conveyed the spirit of Hubbard’s essay. While a number of students drafted an idea for the skit and wrote a script, teams of other competitors headed across the meadow, two at a time, holding a relay race baton. When they reached a table across the field, they received a series of questions and had to run back to the picnic table area to answer the questions as quickly as possible. They then ran back to have their answers evaluated. Incorrect answers had to be made up with free throws at the basketball court before the tandem could race back and hand the baton to the next pair of contestants from their team.

Teams divided themselves into pairs best equipped to handle the list of challenges, which included SAT math questions, knowledge of state capitals, rock-skipping skills, math brain teasers, patriotic music, SAT analogies, stocks, movies, classic rock, literature, names, tennis, mountains, the Beatles, the periodic table, presidents, construction, vocabulary, the Supreme Court and Frisbee throwing.

Each team presented its skit before judges. The skits were evaluated using a scoring rubric that assessed the following: Does it capture the spirit of “A Message to Garcia?” Is it creative and original? Is it entertaining and/or moving to the audience? Is the use of language effective? Do the performers speak loudly enough and clearly enough? Is the acting of the performers of high quality? Is it completed within the allotted three-to-five-minute period?

Sullivan West and Liberty’s skits were supreme. Liberty’s involved an audition for a leading part in a play while Sullivan West’s involved Frodo and Sam’s quest in the “Lord of the Rings.”

As the results were tallied, which accounted for the academic tasks and the skit, Liberty came out the winner of the day with 197.6 points. Sullivan West followed with 150.3, and Monticello’s two teams averaged 133 points for third. Tri-Valley took fourth place with 114 and Eldred finished fifth with 100.7.

The day’s results were added to the scores of the year’s prior competitions, which required critical thinking about environmental science, the elections, music, mathematics and art, and the results are as follows:

First place: Liberty, 1195 points; second place: Sullivan West, 1075 points; third place: Tri-Valley, 1017 points; fourth place: Monticello, 1012 points; fifth place: Eldred, 970 points.

When it came to creative thinking, cooperative efforts and originality this year, all of the county’s SCIL teams did indeed deliver “A Message to Garcia.”