Students Compete In Chess Tourney

Lauryn Brooks and Katie Vogel stared at their pieces intently. Then the two good friends glanced at each other.

But neither blinked.

While most kids scrambled home for the weekend, Vogel and Brooks were among nearly 100 kids who hung around Evergreen Elementary School’s gym to participate in the school’s second annual Evergreen Invitational Chess Tournament.

Elementary students from Evergreen, Linwood, Midway and St. George’s all matched wits against each other in the ultimate thinker’s game.

In an era of Sony PlayStation, Supernintendo, the Internet and other Pavlovian forms of entertainment, tournament organizer Chris Vogel was thrilled to see student enthusiasm for the tournament.

“It wasn’t difficult to get this started,” Vogel said. “They want to be here.”

Evergreen has 67 active players alone. Close to 20 players are girls, according to Vogel.

“These are the kids who learn in alternative manners,” he said.

Vogel’s enthusiasm for the game he’s played for years has clearly rubbed off on many of his students.

The judges for Friday’s matches were middle school students from Brentwood and Mead who had Vogel as a teacher either at Evergreen or Midway, the school where he taught for three years before moving to Evergreen three years ago.

Vogel said he would like to start a chess league at the elementary school level.

“In Russia, and back on the East Coast, chess leagues and teams exist the way sports teams do. And I’m not talking about chess clubs. I’m talking teams where the stakes are just as high.”

Here are the placers by age division from the tournament:

7 years old and under: First place, Nick Ivers, Evergreen; second, Katelyn Wilson, Evergreen; third, Eman Hatem, Evergreen; and fourth, Lauryn Brooks, Evergreen.

8 and 9 years old: First place, Daniel Copeland, St. George’s; second, Garrett Morkill, St. George’s; third, David Britt, St. George’s; and fourth, Mark Cassell, St. George’s.

10 to 12 years old: First place, Alex Morkill, Brentwood; second, Chad Holzer, Linwood; third, Travis Culliton, St. George’s; and fourth, Megan Thigpen, Evergreen.

Deer Park contingent to head south

Members of the Deer Park Science Club will spend 10 days in Costa Rica as part of a research program with Ecoteach.

The science club is planning a 10-day summer tour that will patrol and clean beaches, conduct population studies on nesting turtles and hatchlings as well as dig up and transplant turtle eggs to safe nursery areas.

Club members will also have a chance to learn about Costa Rica and meet high school students from that country.

“It’s going to be a learning experience, but I really want to go and lie on the black sand beaches,” said junior Sarah Bryant.

Costa Rica has a low rate of crime and health standards resembling a Western society. It’s one of the reasons the country is considered a safe place for visitors.

Going there won’t be cheap, however.

Each student must pay $1,695 if there are at least 20 people in the group.

“Right now there are 16 people going,” said adviser Phil Williams. “Some are parents and brothers and sisters, too, so it’s not all students.”

The group is planning a variety of fund-raisers in the coming months.

Students collecting food for needy

On Sunday, area high school students who are members of the Whitworth Community Presbyterian Church are sponsoring a canned food drive to feed the needy.

The students are camping on the church lawn until they raise 1,999 pounds of food. The group will also be going door-to-door pulling sleds through the community to collect food.

For more information or to make a donation, call Tim Harrison at 466-0305.

And speaking of student donations, Steve Lamp, a teacher at Lakeside Middle School, said sixth-grade students there have emptied their piggy banks and collected more than 300 pounds of pennies.

The money will then be donated to the Tum Tum and Suncrest food banks.