Academic Rodeo Awards Celebration

TYLER – A record-breaking 2,000 students from all over East Texas competed in the 27th annual East Texas State Fair Academic Rodeo. And the winners have now been announced. The event consists of 14 different contests including Mathletics, Computer Science, Spelling Bee, One Act Play, and many more. The Academic Rodeo is an event operated by The Park of East Texas, the same organization that operates the East Texas State Fair. The Academic Rodeo is open to both public and private schools, as well as homeschool coalitions and similar groups. In total, there were 101 groups competing in the Academic Rodeo, spanning from Grand Prairie to Diana, and from Mt. Pleasant to Hemphill. Top performing school districts included Tyler ISD, Lindale ISD, and Whitehouse ISD.

Since the conception of Academic Rodeo in 1991, the program has grown. While it began as a part of the fair, it was soon changed to a stand alone event due to its growing participation. The 2016 event was yet another record-breaking year for the Academic Rodeo

The 2017 Awards Celebration was hosted on Friday in the Mayfair building at the East Texas State Fair grounds. An estimated 600 people filled the historic building while over 300 students were recognized for their achievements. Awards were given to the top three placing teams and individuals in each contest. In addition, elementary students received cash prizes, while middle and high school students were able to apply for scholarships. In total, $11,000 is scholarships was given away.

Three Outstanding Educators were also honored at the event. Elementary honors went to Scott Williams from Brownsboro Intermediate School. Middle School honoree was Bishop Gorman Catholics School teacher, Dana Fergerson. Kala Morrow from John Tyler High School received High School honors.

You can go to http://d2w7gersd1ix5b.cloudfront.net/files.ashx?t=fg&f=2017_Academic_Rodeo_Results.pdf&rid=EastTexasSF for the 2016 East Texas State Fair Academic Rodeo results.