Winning a state championship is an achievement worth noting.
In the case of Erickson Elementary School it is especially
worth noting since the championship involved was not for a sport but for
skillful use of the mind.
Earlier this month, nine students in the third and fifth
grades at Erickson spent a Saturday competing in a state chess tournament.
The students on the K-3 team, all third graders, were named
co-champions with five other schools in the 32-team competition.
Chess isn’t your average game of luck. It’s a game of
brains, and all of the Erickson competitors demonstrated they have them and
they know how to use them.
Erickson and the community should be proud of these latest
champions, and chess coach James Owen should take a bow for the effort he
and his teams put into their performance.
And this is from a team that has had only two years of
experience in state tournament competition.
