For almost 50 years, Reach for the Top has been an academic competition that has schools around the country taking part in, and this year, Ponoka Secondary Campus (PSC) students made it to the provincial challenge.
Getting to the Reach for the Top provincials competition requires training and reading up on a variety of subjects, says coach Rob Haggarty. Students honed their knowledge of science, math, history, social issues and other subjects and they used that knowledge to dominate their region.
PSC students competed against schools from Stettler, Rimbey, Lacombe and other nearby schools to earn them a spot at the provincial level with the help of Haggarty and Pauline Mercer. The two best teams from regionals make it to provincials and because of their knowledge, both PSC teams — Team A and B — competed in Edmonton last weekend.
The student teams finished fifth overall in the competition.
While they did not land a chance at the national competition, PSC needed a third place spot, Haggarty feels students should be praised for making it as far as they did.
“You’re competing against pretty big and highly specialized schools,” said Haggarty.
This is the third year in a row that the PSC team has made it to provincials. “They’re pretty consistent, they do pretty well.”
They also represented their school well enough that judges awarded the Ponoka competitors the sportsmanship award from the challenge. Haggarty said they had positive attitudes throughout the provincial competition and congratulated other teams for their accomplishments.
“I’m just really, really proud of them,” said Haggarty.
Kayla Nakoneshny, Caleb Froese, Brian Hoar, Angus Tulloch, Sam Hubert, Mathew Osborn and Drew Wessner comprised the two teams that competed in Edmonton.