Arnold Elementary Students Place in Top 10 of Black Saga

Arnold Elementary School fourth- and fifth-graders placed ninth overall in the state Black Saga Competition and were acknowledged as the longest-running school to compete.

The statewide academic competition over African-American history was held Saturday at Towson University. Middle schools from across the state sent 48 teams of students to the competition.

Fourth-graders Colin Bright, Rachel Kinsey, and Scott Frazee; and fifth-graders Maddy Wilson, Kendall Callow, and Samantha Dupcak composed the two teams sent to the Black Saga Competition from AES. 

"The students love this competition due to the topic of black history and also in the name of friendly competition," said AES team coordinator Dana Smith. "They aim to win of course, but really get excited about new information about Black History that they never knew before. They love the connections it makes to their home state of Maryland."

The teams prepared for the competition with some help from the school's media teacher, who lent books to make more meaningful connections to the information they learned, Smith said.

"It was great to see them really get excited about history," she said.

In addition to AES's ninth-place performance, a team of eighth-graders from Severn River Middle School took top honors in this year's Black Saga Competition with perfect scores.