Elementary, high school students face off in chess
Mar. 15, 2013 9:54 AM
WILMINGTON — When Mark Coney sat down Thursday for a game of chess, he was a little nervous.
The Edison Charter fourth-grader was there to play against high school students from the Charter School of Wilmington.
Coney won his match.
“I like chess, because you can be the littlest person in the room like me and you can still win the game,” Coney said.
About two dozen students from the two schools had a battle of wits Thursday in a science lab at Charter. The competition brought together schools that might not seem to have much in common.
Edison is an elementary school located in a tough neighborhood in Wilmington. Charter is one of the top-ranked high schools in the country.
The chess match showed what the sides shared: Students from both schools play some serious chess.
Edison Principal Salome Thomas-EL started the chess team soon after he started working there three years ago. He’d earned accolades in Philadelphia for leading students there to earn national chess awards while also improving academic achievement. The chess team is meant to be fun, but it also helps students master a game that teaches important lessons, he said.
“It’s a game of consequence and sacrifice,” Thomas-EL said. “What do I sacrifice to succeed?”
In Delaware, chess teams play against other schools, but there isn’t a state championship. That’s something Thomas-EL and Charter science teacher Tom Fleetwood would like to change.
“Some kids want to be in competitions, but not a lot of schools have that,” Fleetwood said.
During the match Thursday at Charter, the room was silent for about two hours. The students studied closely before making moves and jotted notes as they watched their opponents take a turn. Pizza brought in lay untouched until the end – students were concentrating first on playing chess.
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This is fantastic.