Imagine traveling to a local university, meeting hundreds of new people, and competing in something you love to do without getting physically injured. Fourteen Ligonier Valley High School students on the reading team recently experienced that, had a great time, and came out as one of the best teams in Westmoreland County.

Students selected to be on the Reading Team love to read and come from all four grades. Assigned to read from a list of 30 books, the team splits up the task to accomplish more. They traveled to Seton Hill University on March 5 after putting in many hours of reading and study to compete in the Westmoreland Interscholastic Reading Competition. Originating in Johnstown in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, the competition eventually reached local facilities.

“The books that are selected for local schools entered in the competition are chosen from the original list of the Johnstown School District. Johnstown has a list of 80 books, and we choose 30 to 40 books for the high school and middle school teams,” said Events Coordinator and Greensburg Salem Middle School Librarian, Mrs. Nancy A. Martz.

Ms. Charlotte Smith, high school librarian and LVHS Reading Team coach said, “I usually group the books and divide them up so that each student has at least half a dozen books to read. The students are to thoroughly read the books and take notes on them. They come to meetings during Sustained Silent Reading days and quiz each other on their questions they’ve written in order to prepare themselves for the competition.”

The students on the team put in a lot of effort to do well in this competition. Having practices for three to four hours, thoroughly reading the books and rereading them closer to the competition date, keeping notes and writing questions to help understand the text are all part of the hard work.

“I feel like someone stamped NERD on my forehead, and I like it!” said enthusiastic Reading Team member Courtney Moskios at the competition.

Before the event began, some of the students were nervous and some were excited. Seniors and team captains Alex Grab, Allen Martello and Katie Mattern knew the team would pull together, and they did.

This year, the Nacho Libro, in their bright red and black t-shirts, ranked third out of 24 high schools, receiving ribbons and pins as reminders of their excellence. Freshmen Jake Fox, Taylor Fredrick, Jessica Merchant, Stephanie Stiles, Megan Verwelst, and Olivia Yanits came to Seton Hill and all agreed upon being nervous, excited, and “just wanting to get it over with.” Sophomores Cheyenne Harr, Mariel McMarlin and Courtney Moskios, along with juniors Karissa Bearer and Amber McLean got the opportunity to bask in the glory.

“Walking into a huge room with competitors and not knowing what to expect is something I’ve experienced at the WIRC. For six years I’ve been involved with the reading team and this year was better than in the past,” said Alex. “Next year, if I can, I will help out with the competition. If I could do it all again, I would.”

“It was great working with this bunch of students,” said Ms. Smith. “I never had to worry about them not reading any of their books, and the only thing I’m going to have to improve upon next year is the personal practice sessions with the students.”