AGazine, August 2014

More AGLOA Condolensces

On the heels of Jim Davis’s death, AGLOA has lost another Hall of Fame Coach. Dr. Bonnie Burt passed away in New Orleans July 18 after a brief illness.

Dr. Burt was the longtime head of the Elementary Division of the Jefferson Parish Academic Games League. Her involvement with Academic Games was an outgrowth of her teaching gifted students in the Jefferson Parish Public School System for over 35 years. She received an Outstanding Educator award at the 1991 national tournament.

Dr. Burt served multiple terms on the AGLOA National Board from its inception. She also played a vital role for many years on the Mathematics Rules Committee.

She had just retired from teaching at the end of the 2012-13 school year. This was her retirement message to all her friends in Academic Games:

“Academic Games has been very near and dear to me, having been a coach and coordinator for over 30 years. Being involved in this endeavor has provided a venue for making many friends and creating many memories. I sincerely hope that the Elementary Division will continue with new leadership as these games provide so many superior educational benefits for those who participate. I will miss all of the good times we have enjoyed and wish all of you the best as you continue with your careers.”

Read the article on Bonnie from the February 2012 AGazine.

Access Dr. Bonnie Burt’s online obituary and guestbook here.

The AGLOA community also extends its condolences to Paula Hidalgo, longtime awards coordinator who won an Outstanding Educator award in 1988. Paula lost her husband Arthur, who succumbed in July after a long battle with leukemia. Access Arthur Hidalgo’s online obituary and guestbook here.

Outstanding Senior: Yuxuan Chen

Yuxuan Chen from Skyline High School, Ann Arbor MI, played Academic Games for seven years and attended the national tournament four times. She won the Outstanding Junior Division award for the Michigan League of Academic Games and also numerous championships as an individual and a team member. But, like all Outstanding Senior Award winners, she has contributed to her local leagues in other ways as well.

Here are excerpts from her nomination by her coach, Alex Baker:

Yuxuan Chen might not be the player who comes to mind when you think of the Ann Arbor Academic Games team because in general she is quiet and doesn’t draw a lot of attention to herself, but over the years she has been as important to the success of our team as any other person. Her silent leadership and continued dedication to AG have been of great benefit to our other players and will continue to be in the future.

Yuxuan did not have the most auspicious start to her AG career. Having moved to the U.S. in elementary school, she started at a disadvantage to other students, especially in language arts games. It is a testament to her dedication to Academic Games that she continued throughout middle school despite never making a Nationals team.

When she got to high school, her growth in academic games really took off. In addition to making her first nationals as a ninth grader, she competed on a team that won several state championships and finished second in the country overall. In her four years, she has made the first team each year and been a part of numerous state and national champions, including the Sweepstakes winning junior team in 2012 and senior team in 2014.

But it is her growth away from the gaming tables that has been the most remarkable. Despite a demanding class load and a number of extra-curricular activities, she has made it to almost every Clague Middle School practice for the last two years. She comes to help judge at Friday tournaments and help teach the younger students.

Next year, she plans to take the next step in her Academic Games career by coaching while she attends the University of Michigan.

Down Memory Lane

Here are some excerpts from the 1968-69 Tournament Rules for the game of Ameri-Euro-Card, a precursor of World Events.

Four or five man games will be played.

Each player may have two, but no more than two, reference books to which he may refer at any time during the game. The reference books must be published material.

One player shuffles the STATE and/or NATION cards and places them in the middle of the table with the outline of the states/nations and the categories face up.

Initially each player is given 100 points. Each player (except the MANAGER) looks at the top state or nation and category and decides how many of his points to allocate for that question. […]

Player #1 is the MANAGER for Question #1, Player #2 is the MANAGER for Question #2, etc. The MANAGER does NOT SCORE on the question(s) he reads, but he is responsible for scoring and timing on each question he reads.

As soon as one of the players thinks he knows the correct answer, he places his hand over the letter of the answer on the DECLARE BOARD. Once his hand is over a letter, he may not move it to another letter. Any other player(s) may select a different answer by placing his (their) hand(s) over a different letter. However, no two players may have their hands on the same letter.

Scoring is determined in the following way:

1. The AUTHOR’s answer is consulted.
2. If there is only one hand on the DECLARE BOARD, then the delcaring player gains his ALLOCATION if his answer agrees with the Author’s answer, and the declaring player gains HALF his ALLOCATION if his answer does not agree with the Author’s answer, unless he can substantiate his answer in one of his two reference books within one minute, in which case he gains his total ALLOCATION, and the other players neither gain nor lose their ALLOCATIONS.
3. If there is more than one hand on the DECLARE BOARD, then the player (if any) whose hand is on the author’s answer gains his ALLOCATION, and any player whose hand is on an answer different from the Author’s loses his ALLOCATION unless he can substantiate his answer in one of his two reference books within one minute, in which case he gains his ALLOCATION, and any player whose hand is not on the DECLARE BOARD neither gains nor loses his ALLOCATION.