Last night William participated in a "Battle of the Books" competition for all elementary schools in the Cherry Creek School District. It's a fascinating competition based on the idea that each team member reads between 7 and 15 books off the required reading list and then the team pools its resources to answer fairly detailed questions about any of the books. I did wonder, as I heard questions like, "This book had a deadline on July 4," and "This book started off on an unusually warm summer day," if perhaps we should be discussing the themes of the books, the lessons learned, or perhaps the emotions the books evoked. Then my competitive side scoffed at my new-agey side and condescendingly noted that you couldn't build a competition around themes and emotions.
Internal battles aside, William's team of four boys and two girls did well. They scored in the top six out of 22 teams and made it to the final rounds, where they suffered a bit of a setback. When we discussed the results on the way home, I assured William that the journey could not be judged by its final step, that he had to consider the success of reading the books, meeting every other week since October to discuss them, and winning the school competition, he said, "Oh, it's just like the Broncos and the Super Bowl." Indeed it felt familiar, and when I saw an article about John Elway's season-ending remarks I noted that he said much the same thing. For the first time in my life, I actually believe it, too - the hard work, self-improvement, and bonding with teammates really is its own reward. Maybe I've convinced myself in time to convince the kids, which would be the best prize of all.
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