Pentathlon Students Wander No More

   You know when you can taste fear? When it creeps up slowly from the pit of your stomach, tightening each muscle as it passes until you're sure that it will eventually choke you from the inside out? That was how I felt at the pentathlon awards night. Most of our team was there (including three of our alternates) and we sat in the front row of an intimidating auditorium waiting to be called. We, the teachers, knew that our team had won a team award, but we did not know what place or what award. The students knew nothing about the awards. They have eight categories: Literature, Essay, Math, History, Science, overall individual, Superquiz team, and overall team. They begin by announcing 6th place winners in 7th grade then 8th grade and they move back and forth until they get to 1st place. Students often tie for each place, so there may be 8 or so winners for each place.
     They started with literature and I could feel the panic forming. We got no medals for 6th place...I suddenly panicked that we might not win any medals for literature and the world would know that I failed as a lit teacher! Fifth place was announced and still, no winners. I absently clapped for the other schools as they were called and I felt like I was going to die from nerves. Finally, for 4th place they called a kid from our school. I was relieved for a moment, but one 4th place winner was not good enough for me! I wanted more! The overachiever in me wanted at least four medals. Third place, no one. Second place - three winners!! I was so relieved! That was respectable. I had not failed them.
     The night continued on like this. Our lone eighth grade team was called up several times to the stage, with several students earning 3 or even 4 medals. Other schools had two, three, or even four teams so they were called more often. It was intimidating to hear their names called again and again. Some were from special advanced schools that offer pentathlon as a class during the regular school day. We heard schools' names called over and over again. But each time they called us, we cheered wildly and we teachers filled with pride.
     Some of our kids earned overall medals for doing well in every category. They were so excited and so proud of what they had done. Then came the team awards. For Superquiz (the best part of the competition where the kids compete in a form of group jeopardy! - sort of) we waited for them to call our names: 6th place, nothing, 5th place, nope, 4th place, still not us. We all looked at each other - could we have placed this high? 3rd place - not us, now we were getting really excited. Surely we won second, but 2nd place was not ours. The first place winners were many (I think 7 schools tied for first place) but we were the last school called and we went crazy. We all screamed and cheered and ran to the stage to receive the plaque.
    I love our alternates. They came to the awards ceremony without any expectations of receiving a prize (they did not compete on the competition day although they learned all the material too). They cheered for their classmates eagerly and when the team award was called, they cheered, but stayed in their seats. "Get up there!" I said from behind. "What?" "You are a part of this team and our team just won, get on stage!" They were filled with pride. I was too. What a great example of excellent attitudes these kids had. We had our pictures taken and then sat down as overall team awards were called out.
     It made sense that we would probably get a team award too, but as the places started climbing up, hope rose with it. We started whispering between us, "Could we have made top 3 here?" When we still weren't called at 2nd place, even the kids started giggling and looking toward each other with anticipation. Only 2 teams tied for first - the first one they called was a school in our district, we cheered for them loudly. Then they called us. It was like the ending to some cheesy Disney movie. Our little team from our little school stood, screamed, and ran to the stage. We had won first place overall! We beat out all the private schools, all the magnet schools with special classes, and our kids did it with sportsmanship and the best attitudes I've seen in a long time.
     They even did our cheer: "What team?" "Jaguars!" "What team?" "Jaguars!" "What team?" "Jaguars! Get your brain in the game!" Seriously like living in my own Disney movie.