Pep rally provides festive & proper 'send off'
Members of the FC Brain Game Team share a light moment during a mock competition against a faculty foursome as part of a special pep rally to recognize the FC student contingent and its accomplishments. FTONEWS.com photo. Click here for additional pictures.
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There were more than 2,000 students, faculty and well-wishers on hand Friday, April 25, at the Franklin Central High School gymnasium for a pep rally to pay tribute to the school's highly successful "Brain Game Team" and to provide a proper send-off.
The six-member FC team has advanced to the finals of the popular "Brain Game" televised series that centered on the championship taping on Tuesday, April 29, at Butler University . The head-to-head match-up against Pike High School will be aired on Saturday, May 17, in the program's usual time slot on WTHR-TV (Channel 13).
Franklin Central's team includes four regulars seniors Garrison Carr, Andrew Harris and Luke Uhrig and junior Zach Sherwood and alternates senior Ashley Gossard and freshman Kyle Yoder. Harris and Uhrig are two-year members, Gossard and Sherwood in their second year, and Carr and Yoder in their first season.
English and World Language teacher Adrienne Qualls serves as the team's sponsor.
The 2007-08 Brain Game season marks the second straight year Franklin Central has advanced to the Final Four. A year ago, FC fell in the semifinal round to eventual champion Park Tudor. This time around will mark FC's first championship-game appearance since 1991, when it placed runner-up to Perry Meridian.
In reaching the finals, Franklin Central dispatched Brebeuf Jesuit and Western Boone in the first round, followed by victories over Noblesville, Cathedral and Center Grove. Pike earned a title-round berth by ousting Bloomington North and Guerin Catholic in the first round, followed by wins over Zionsville, Lawrence Central and defending champion Park Tudor.
"The Franklin Central Brain Game team has won a substantial amount of money for the school the past two years because of our success," Qualls said in voicing her pride for the team and its members.
According to John Momberg, a WTHR producer-director in charge of coordinating all phases of the event, both Franklin Central and Pike already have earned $5,000 for their schools from the show's sponsor - Ohio-based Westfield Insurance - by capturing victories in the semifinal round. The Brain Game's championship school will receive an additional $5,000. In addition, $200 stipends will go to members of the winning team and $100 to members of the runner-up team.
"Brain Game" seasons date back to 1973, when Broad Ripple topped North Central for the championship in an ongoing series designed to promote the values and benefits of a solid education.
The current format, with WTHR's award-winning meteorologist Chris Wright serving as host, features 48 central Indiana high schools in a bracketed tourney that culminates in a championship pairing worth a total of $10,000 to the winning school.
The personable Wright was on hand at the Franklin Central pep rally, where he moderated a mock "Brain Game" match-up between the current student team and a carefully selected quartet of faculty members - Social Studies teacher Todd Kendrick, Science teacher Duane Nickell, Math teacher Joseph Oblon and English teacher Tony Schmoll. The results, however, were devastating for the faculty team, with the student contingent registering a crowd-pleasing, lopsided 29-7 victory.
- FTONEWS.com -
