A fifth grade US Academic Triathlon (U.S.A.T.) team from Clearview Elementary recently placed fourth at the state U.S.A.T. competition.

U.S.A.T. is a cross-training competition for young minds, and is for students in grades 5th – 8th. It’s designed to encourage creativity, teamwork and real world problem solving skills. Each meet consists of three events, Mind Sprints, Face-Off and P.A.R.T.Y. in a Box.

The Clearview team, consisting of Teagan G., Eva S., Emma M. and Ava W.S., placed well throughout the season and at regionals tied for first place. To determine which team would head to state, judges first looked at their raw score, then their scores in each of the three events. The teams were tied in all of them.

A coin toss finally broke the tie, with the Clearview team losing the toss. The other team ended up forfeiting, however, and Clearview was off to state.

April 22 found the team at Cottage Grove, where the meet was held. It began with a written round in which they had eight minutes to answer two pages of questions.

“It’s like a quiz on general knowledge,” said Eva. “We work in groups of two with each group working on a page, then trade to get as many answered as we can.”

Next they headed to the first leg of the triathlon, Mind Sprints, where they worked together to solve three 10-minute problems.

 

“Mind Sprints is basically word games,” said Teagan. “Because it was Earth Day all three of the games were based off of that.”

 

Next was Face Off, which had three teams competing against each other to answer questions on numerous academic subjects, hitting a buzzer when they thought they had the answer.

 

“Face Off is like Knowledge Bowl,” explained Ava. “There are 40 questions total, and each question is worth five points. The questions are on things like literature, history and math.”

 

The final leg of the triathlon was P.A.R.T.Y. in a Box, which stands for ‘Preparation, Assembly and Reenactment Theater is Yours.’ For the event, teams receive a problem and materials with which to solve it, then have 40 minutes to prepare their presentation.

 

“You’re given a sheet of paper with a theme and you have to create a mini play and act it out within five minutes,” said Emma. “The theme was ‘rebooting a fairy tale.’ We had to make it modern or some time in the future.”

 

“We took Snow White and instead of the magic mirror we had an obnoxious Siri [Apple’s personal assistant computer application],” said Eva.

 

The Clearview team placed fourth in the competition. They were especially proud of their achievement because they were the only group with four members, most had five or six.

 

The team worked hard to make it to state, practicing on Tuesdays starting the end of November. Meets were held once a month on Fridays.

 

“They were willing to work as a team,” said Joy Palmquist, fifth grade teacher and academic achievement coordinator at Clearview. “They encouraged each other and would build from each other. They’re very creative thinkers.”

 

Students are individually invited to join U.S.A.T., and most have already competed in Knowledge Bowl, which ends right before the U.S.A.T. season begins.

 

“We look for kids who have a flair for doing plays,” said Palmquist. “Outside the box thinkers and ones who need to be challenged.”

 

“I joined because it’s like testing your brain,” said Ava. “And I like to do puzzles that expand the branches of your brain.”

 

All the team members hope to join U.S.A.T. again next year at South Junior High. 

 

“If you like competition you should join,” said Teagan. “It’s fun and pretty hands-on and interactive.”

 

“You have to have patience and be happy no matter how well you did,” said Emma. “Because you had fun and that’s what matters.”

 

“You should join because you can achieve anything,” said Ava. “Who knows where you can go.”