There’s a little acknowledged competition going on throughout the school year and it’s about reading. 

The Florida Association for Media in Education (FAME) puts out a list of books every year: the Florida Teens Read list. Every year, teams from schools in Palm Beach county compete to be the top two teams in their grade category to compete in the Grand Battle. This year the Grand Battle is on March 9th. 

To qualify for the Grand Battle, teams take a 300-question test in 20 minutes which isn’t meant to be finished. Teams with the two highest scores in the county go to the Grand Battle.

For the second year in a row, West Boca will be represented by the Read Bulls, one of the four teams from our school; they’ll have a chance to win a trophy on March 9th. 

On March 6th, the top eight teams in the district were announced for grades 9-12. The Read Bulls placed second and includes Joseph Gonzales, Maya Soud, Natalie Forton Robles, Keira Molotzak, and Karla Zalamar who correctly answered 145 questions. 

Karla Zalamar said that they “finished their books right before the test” and that the “Read Bulls strike again”.

Another team from West Boca called Massive Slay placed third. The members were Maria Borrero, Emina Brannin, Emily Goldstein, Alexandra Kimbrell, and Sofia Sierra. In fifth place came the Page Turners (Rylie Cohen, Victoria Morais, Stracy Oliver, Victoria Radzikhovsky, and Ash Urieta). The Manuscript Masters came in eighth place:  Reem Alsaidi, Juliette Cavanagh, Kristen Cavanagh, Lauren Cavanagh, and Dennis Crowley.

Cheer for the Read Bulls on the 9th!

[March 10th, 2023 Update]

The Read Bulls have placed second for the second year in a row, continuing West Boca’s runner-up streak.