Kennedy Middle School's library wrapped up its first-ever Battle of the Books with six finalist teams. The final championship battle took place on May 5. The winning team was the 7th-grade team, The 4 Stooges (team members Jeremiah Morrow, Noah Roskopf, Jay Ticku, and Grant Walsh). Second place went to the 8th-grade team, A-Team + Corbin (Arush Chopra, Aidan DeBisschop, Abigail Herrscher, and Corbin Ray). The first and second place teams were neck and neck. A tie-breaker question determined the winner in sudden death. Third place was claimed by another 7th-grade team, The Mysterious Benedict Society (Ivy Kearl, Isla Kukowski, and Leah Kukowski).
The first season of BOTB was a huge success with 16 teams. All were responsible for reading 20 different books from various genres, including Historical Fiction, Classic, Nonfiction, Fantasy, and Mystery. Battle 1 took place in March, Battle 2 in April. The top team cumulatively from each grade moved on to the championship round, along with the next highest scoring teams overall. A celebratory party was held afterward for all participants with a pizza donated in part by Marko's Pizza in Germantown.
