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Two Harlan County School District middle schools earned top honors at the recent District Kentucky Governor’s Cup Regional Championship held at Harlan Middle School.

Cumberland Middle School’s Academic and James A. Cawood Middle School Academic teams earned many medals in Governor’s Cup competition when competing in different districts.

Cumberland achieved second place in the quick recall competition in addition to top finishes for individuals who competed in subject areas including math, science, composition as well as the arts and humanities.

Cawood’s Trojans won first place in the quick recall competition and first place medal for future problem solving in addition to many top honors for students in different subjects.

Governor’s Cup encourages depth and breadth of academic knowledge, cultural literacy, teamwork, leadership, creativity, risk assessment, and critical thinking, and provides the fun that comes with being part of a team. Established in 1985, Kentucky Association for Academic Competition now serves over 20,000 students and nearly 1,200 schools at over 400 competitions each year.

Team scores are secondary to the number of students qualifying for the state competition in eight separate events. The Governor’s Cup is kind of like the Olympics of Kentucky academics.

There are two team events — future problem solving and quick recall — and six individual events: assessment tests in arts and humanities, language arts, mathematics, science and social studies and a written composition event. Assessment tests are graded on a 50-point scale.

Compositions are ranked by judges with each division using unique writing prompts which provide the necessary information for students to write well-developed essays. Middle school students write in an argumentative style and complete their essays within 90 minutes.

For the quick recall competition, competitors form teams of four for this fast-paced event. Teams listen to a moderator read a question, then try to beat the clock and the opposing team by buzzing in with the correct response.

For Future Problem Solving (FPS), competitors can participate in events both as part of the Governor’s Cup and separately as FPS component events. Certified evaluators read and rank student writing in FPS.

In each of the team events, the first-place team gets 8 points, the second-place team gets 5 points, the third-place team gets 3 points and the fourth-place team gets 1 point.

In each of the individual events, first place earns 5 points, second place earns 4 points, third place earns 3 points, fourth place earns 2 points and fifth place earns 1 point.

Cumberland Results
Science
3rd Gabriel Clay
5th Adan Eversole

Social Studies
3rd Kylee Hoiska

Math
4th Gabriel Clay
5th Daelyn Garland

Composition
3rd Daelyn Garland

Arts and Humanities
5th place Andie Saylor

Quick Recall
2nd Cumberland Middle School

Cawood Middle Results
Math
1st Elijah Moore
2nd Thomas Daniels
5th Clarissa Yost

Science
2nd Braylee Kazy
3rd Mitchell Cloud
4th Hayden Peterson

Social Studies
1st Amelia Colinger
2nd Elijah Moore

Language Arts
1st Amelia Colinger
4th Emmely Hickey
5th Hayden Peterson

Arts and Humanities
1st Thomas Daniels
4th Clarissa Yost

Composition
1st Clarissa Yost
2nd Emmely Hickey