Local Middle Schoolers Sweep State Black Saga with Perfect Scores

A team of eighth-graders from Severn River Middle School took top honors in this year's Black Saga Competition.

The statewide academic competition over African-American history was held Saturday at Towson University. Middle schools from across the state sent 48 teams of students to the competition, including two from SRMS in Arnold.

The winning team consisted of 8th graders Jasper Frazee, Ethan O'Malley and Phillip Schofield. The same team won the competition back when they were sixth-graders.

In the 16 years since the competition was first held, there have been only three perfect scores in the championship round, and the first place Severn Middle School team achieved two of those perfect scores, according to a press release.

The team of eighth-graders won the state competition with a perfect score in the Championship Round. The same team was the state champion in the Middle School Maryland State Black Saga Competition when they were in the sixth grade.

The second Severn River Middle team, featuring seventh-grader Sam Sheats and sixth-graders Frankie Frazee and Delaney Snowden, placed third in the state in the competition.

The first place team members each received checks for $300 and a $300 check for their school as the top team in the competition along with trophies. The third place team members each received checks for $100 and trophies. 

The Black Saga Competition was created by Dr. Charles M. Christian, author of Black Saga: The African American Experience, a study of black history.

IN 2012, SRMS students placed in the top 10 of the Black Saga competition, and met with Governor Martin O'Malley.

And in 2010, a team from Arnold Elementary School placed second in the competition.