BY BHAVYA KODALI
STAFF WRITER
Academic Triathlon is a fun activity which encourages boys and girls from 5th to 8th grade to use their intelligence and creativity. You will meet at schools around the district and participate in a few activities. Normally, each meet has around seven teams. There are three parts to Academic Triathlon, which include two Face-Offs, three Mind Sprints, and one P.A.R.T.Y. in a Box. The Face- Offs include one Written Face-Off and one Oral Face-Off. You can think of them as quizzes. Mind Sprints are fast activities that are 8 minutes each, and they make you think quickly. P.A.R.T.Y. in a Box is the longest one, which takes around 1 hour to complete. All teams have 40 minutes to prepare a skit, only using materials in the box given to them. They normally include milk jugs, straws, plates, and other random things. One time, they even included an Airhead as a prop. Then, the teams perform in front of a few judges, and each skit normally takes around 5 minutes. There is a penalty for going 15 seconds above the time limit, and then every 15 seconds after that. Each offense deducts three points from your overall P.A.R.T.Y. in a Box score.
The most recent meet was on Friday, January 6th. It was at Bailey Elementary and was around 3 to 4 hours long. There were seven teams competing, and since there were seven teams, the top three teams were awarded ribbons. This meet was a Round Robin 2, so it had no effect on your chances of getting into the state meet. One of our MSA teams, the Nerds won 1st place for this meet. The next meet is on Friday, February 7th, so, if you can make time to cheer our teams on, feel free to! P.A.R.T.Y. in a Box skit performances and the award presenting are open to the public, but most of the time, only close friends and family come to watch.