In 1987, the West Virginia State Legislature founded the Academic Challenge Program for all West Virginia counties to be facilitated in the Gifted Programs throughout West Virginia. The first year was a pilot program in which Logan County particpated under the direction of Mrs. Jane Watkins (Social Studies Coordinator), Donald Hunt, and Rose Duba.
These "pilot" participants who won at the state level competed in Georgia in 1988. In 1988, Logan County opened the Games to all students who were interested in participating in Academic Challenge. Teachers who were interested in coaching were trained at RESA II in Huntington, WV, by Jan Barth. Among the future coaches were Brenda Saunders and Karen Arms, who immediately began coaching a team at their school for county competition.
Since that time, the face of Academic Games has changed for West Virginia, RESA II, and Logan County. Brenda and Karen received permission from their county to offer an elective class at Man Jr. High School to those students interested in competing in Academic Games in 1994. West Virginia discontinued funding for Academic Games, but RESA II continued to be strong in their support of the games. Among competitors who have won team and or individual competitions at the national level in the Reading Games from Logan County are:
James Mullins, Logan High School Class of 2000
Jeremiah Robinson, Man High School Class of 2001
Alicia Saunders, Man High School Class of 2001
E. Danielle Vance, Man High School Class of 2001
Ambria Mays, Man High School Class of 2006
Justin Saunders, Man High School Class of 2006
Ethan Adkins, Chapmanville High School Class of 2007
Michael Bledsoe, Chapmanville High School Class of 2007
Faith Gillispie, Man High School Class of 2008
Rebekah Bevins, Logan High School Class of 2009
Taylor Gibson, Man High School Class of 2009
Elizabeth Jeffery, Man High School Class of 2009
Benja Lamyaithong, Man High School Class of 2009
Jared Lee, Logan High School Class of 2009
Carrie McGraw, Man High School Class of 2009
Zach Vance, Man High School Class of 2009
Tyler Dunigon, Man High School Future Class of 2010
Jaclyn Hobbs, Logan High School Future Class of 2010
Michael Lomax, Man High School Future Class of 2010
Andrew Lusk, Man High School Future Class of 2010
Zach Asbury, Man High School Future Class of 2011
J. Ryan Crawford, Man High School Future Class of 2011
Tyrone Lamyaithong, Man High School Future Class of 2011
Jeremy Tipton, Man High School Future Class of 2011
Zack Underwood, Man High School Future Class of 2011
Alison Welty, Man High School Future Class of 2011
Katie Collins, Man High School Future Class of 2012
Caleb Davis, Man High School Future Class of 2012
JT Twardy, Man High School Future Class of 2012
Abby Lusk, Man High School Future Class of 2013
Zack Short, Man High School Future Class of 2013
Jacob McCoy, Man High School Future Class 2013
Dustin White, Man High School Future Class of 2013
Noah Maynard, Man High School Future Class of 2014
For more information on our National Winners, click here.