The North Penn auditorium was rocking last Friday morning as students in eleventh grade English classes participated in the seventh annual vocab bowl. One may have been confused upon entering in the middle of the event, as students jumped up and down in their seats excitedly cheering on their class mates as they answered vocab questions.

Five classes participated in Friday’s festivities: Mrs. McKee’s and Mrs. Poole’s third period, Mrs. Lawler’s and Ms. Young’s second period, Mrs. Lawler’s and Ms. Young’s first period, Mrs. Schmidt’s and Ms. Young’s period seven class, and Mrs. McKee’s and Mrs. Poole’s fifth period.

Organized by English teacher Mrs. Ellen McKee and MC’d by Mr. Kevin Manero, each team sent up a representative to the front of the auditorium for each question, where they would be given a multiple choice options which they would use wireless remotes to buzz what they thought was the correct vocabulary answer. The class with the most correct answers at the end of the two-period competition would then take home the coveted Vocab Bowl Champion trophy.

Other festivities included Mr. Manero asking the students current event questions that could win them their choice of a Wawa, Subway, or Five Below gift cards. A ticket drawing also took place, where a random lucky student was given their choice of candy if their ticket was drawn.

As the competition progressed “celebrity guests” such as Mr. Fry, Mrs. Koffman, Mrs. Vogel, Mr. Broxterman, the Weekly Word man himself Mr. Ramsey jumped into the game to test their vocabulary knowledge as well. Mid way through the event, students were given the opportunity to take a break from answering questions and participate in a dance competition, where the winner was then awarded a King Sized Hershey Bar.

After almost an hour and a half of heated competition, a rapid fire round-hosted by Mr. Manero took place, which awarded one single student as the vocab master, while the class results were tallied up by Mrs. McKee. After all was said and done, Mrs. McKee’s and Mrs. Poole’s third period came away victorious taking first place in the competition, giving the teachers their second consecutive win.

“It started as a way to get kids interested in doing something academic and right around the time the PSSA was getting hot. It started as a literary review and acadmic competition and it’s really turned into something that has made learning fun,” said English teacher and Vocab Bowl organizer Ellen McKee, “I think that every year has been better than the next, the energy grows every year as far as the students enthusiasm grows and I think this year has been our best one yet.”