SOUTH WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — If you'd like to stay spoiler-free for the rest of the "Scholastic Scrimmage" season, stop reading.
Parkland School Board on Tuesday honored the district’s team for winning the state championships of the 49th season of "Scholastic Scrimmage," a televised academic quiz show founded on PBS39.
Show host David Graf attended the board meeting, and he lauded the team for its performance at WLVT-TV PBS39’s local tournament before heading onto the statewide matches.
“In winning the tournament, they beat Northwestern Lehigh with a score of 340 to 255,” Graf said.
“That’s a little bit of a spoiler alert, but worthwhile,” he said, referring to the fact that this season's episodes of the show are airing now with the finals yet to be broadcast.
"Scholastic Scrimmage" is a collaboration between PBS39 in Bethlehem and other PBS stations in the state that host their own scrimmage tournaments.
The winners of the local tournaments then compete at the state championships, which this year was held at the PBS39 studios in Bethlehem.
PBS39 is run by Lehigh Valley Public Media, the parent organization of LehighValleyNews.com.
“We came pretty close a couple of times, but this is the first year that we finally took it home."Team captain Thomas Gilchrist
The Parkland High School team took home a $4,000 cash prize and a trophy, which was presented at the school board meeting.
The team's captain, senior Thomas Gilchrist, said Parkland has not won the state championship since he started on the team three years ago.
“We came pretty close a couple of times, but this is the first year that we finally took it home,” Gilchrist said. “It feels really good to do it.”
The team includes students Joseph Peng, Alexander Saccone, Max Averbach, Samith Rohatgi (1st alternate and warm-up captain) and Evan Frye (2nd alternate). The team’s advisor is Kellie O'Donnell.
How to watch Scholastic Scrimmage
Many of the "Scholastic Scrimmage" matches have been broadcast and posted on PBS39’s website.
All the episodes are scheduled on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. on Channel 39.
Parkland’s match against Southern Lehigh will air April 26, and its match against Moravian Academy will air May 17. The local championship against Northwestern Lehigh will air May 24.
The All-Star match with teams from across the state will air May 31, and the state championships will air June 2.
Graf said for the 50th anniversary of the show, PBS39 is collecting stories from alumni of the teams. He asked anyone who wants to be featured to reach out to the station.
Other recognition
The school board also recognized Springhouse Middle School's MathCounts team for becoming this year's state champions for the second year in a row.
The team’s members are Wesley Luo, Lucas Yang, Oscar Liu and Eddy Zhang.
Zhang won the Pennsylvania MathCounts Individual Championship for the second consecutive year. He will be captain of the State Team at Nationals in Washington, D.C., in May.
The team’s coach, math teacher Kevin Hallman, will lead the State Team at Nationals.
The board also recognized Springhouse seventh-grade teacher Kerin Steigerwalt for winning the 2024 International Society for Technology in Education’s Making It Happen Award.
The award “honors visionary educators and leaders who cultivate connected, empowered learners,” according to the organization’s website.
