Whiz Kids of the Week: African-American History Bee Winners

In honor of Black History Month, students from across the Pasadena Unified School District participated in an African-American History Bee on Thursday

The event tested the students knowledge in a variety of categories pertaining to African-American history.  It was held at in Altadena.

The following students proved themselves worthy of being "Whiz Kids" of the week with their performance.

●      Whiz Kid's Names and Schools

Elementary School winners: 

1st place:  Nathan Abel and Jose Manuel Marquez – Madison Elementary

 2nd place:  Russell Thrailkill and Deja King – Altadena Elementary

 3rd place:  Sandiso Dube-Mathanda and Reina Freeman – Field Elementary

Middle School Winners:

1st Place:  Madeline Lepesant and Chellam Nayer---Marshall Fundamental

2nd Place:  Haley Jones and India Epps---Blair

3rd Place:  Kimberly Mejia and Stephanie Nunez---Eliot Middle School

●      Whiz Kid's Age

The elementary school kids are all between grade 3 and 5, and the middle school ones between grades 6 and 8.

●      Whiz Kid's Accomplishment

170 students participated in the event, and these 12 were the ones who came out on top.

●      Whiz Kid's Key to Awesomeness

Everybody has trained for a spelling bee at one time or another, but going out of your way to learn a bunch of history that is not necessarily taught in your everyday classroom takes some really committment.

The students were given information on theaccomplishments and contributions of notable African Americans in these categories: arts, business, civil rights, cultural pride/Kwanzaa, inventors, science and medicine pioneers, politics, poetry, sports, and Pasadena history.

That's a lot of different categories.  Most of these kids probably know a lot more on the subject than most of us adults in the community now.

Do you know a child or group of children who should be featured in our "Whiz Kid" column?  Please write to dan.abendschein@patch.com with nominations or leave ideas in the comments section.