Ravenscroft’s Lower School Battle of the Books team won second place in the Battle of the Books District Competition last month. 

The book competition, known among participants as EBOB, is an initiative of the North Carolina School Library Association. Students who join the team after Labor Day read at least 10 of the 15 titles from the elementary list and practice answering trivia-type questions about them. 

At Ravenscroft, the team is open to all students in fourth and fifth grades. The team practiced twice a week, with some members also practicing virtually using BattleQuestions.com. EBOB coaches Jessica Ortolano and Emily Zeblo, known to Lower Schoolers for their roles as librarians in Winston Library, said they also used programs such as Quizizz, Quizlet and Kahoot to test students’ knowledge.

In the spring, the coaches selected a travel team of 12 students to compete in the competition. This year’s travel team comprised fourth-graders Clare Botjer, Jozi Brandon, Penny Hall, Joaquin Lambert, Benjamin Pacca, Suhavee Sethi, Grady Sheehan, Kingston Wall, James Wu and Smith Zola; and fifth-graders Carolyn Hu and Debbie Ouyang.

“It was fun and engaging,” Suhavee Sethi said of her experience. “I really enjoyed all the wonderful books!”

“I enjoyed creating a richer relationship with this group of students outside the academic classroom setting,” Ortolano said. “I have never laughed as much as I did with this great group of students.”

The competition was held at Pilgrim United Church of Christ (near Durham Academy’s middle school campus). In addition to Ravenscroft, Saint Thomas More, Saint Raphael Catholic School and Triangle Day School fielded teams.

“I was proud to see their hard work rewarded!” Zeblo said. “The students put in countless hours of reading and practice and represented Ravenscroft well at the competition in both knowledge and sportsmanship.”

“The competition was very exciting!” Suhavee added. “I walked in with a load of nerves, and I walked out with an EBOB second-place trophy.”

“It was a life-changing experience,” Kingston Wall concluded, “and we will be back next year to build on our success.”