Southside students take up The Great American Challenge

Posted 2/17/25

A select group of Southside Elementary School students, six to be exact, have taken up and completed The Great American Challenge.

What does this mean? It means that Heidi Black, Amara Linton, …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Attention readers

The Powell Tribune has expanded its online content. To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, or purchase a subscription.

If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free web account by clicking here.

If you already have a web account, but need to reset it, you can do so by clicking here.

If you would like to purchase a subscription click here.

Southside students take up The Great American Challenge

Southside Elementary School students showed off some impressive knowledge at the Park County School District 1 board meeting as they recited the Star Spangled Banner, the state capitols in the western region and the Gettysburg Address among other feats. From left, students Tobyn Jordan, Delila Bieber, Hayden Tietema, Leora Butterfield, Heidi Black and teacher Christy Landwehr. Amara Linton, who was not in attendance also completed The Great American Challenge.

Tribune photo by Braden Schiller

Posted Tuesday, February 18, 2025 6:10 am

By Braden Schiller

A select group of Southside Elementary School students, six to be exact, have taken up and completed The Great American Challenge.

What does this mean? It means that Heidi Black, Amara Linton, Hayden Tietema, Delila Bieber, Leora Butterfield and Tobyn Jordan have taken the time to learn how to write the Pledge of Allegiance with correct capitalization and spelling, they can recite all 50 states and the state capitols in either alphabetical order or regional order from memory, they have to memorize the Preamble of the Constitution, recite all 47 presidents and sing or recite the Star Spangled Banner and recite the Gettysburg Address.

The students got the chance to show off at the Feb. 11 school board meeting, with Tietema standing up in front of Powell’s seven board members to sing a song she memorized that rattles off the state capitols in the western region.

“The Great American challenge is an enrichment that you get to be a part of when you are in fifth grade,” said Christy Landwehr, a Southside Elementary School fifth grade teacher. “This is something that has six parts, and these parts are pretty tricky. That's why it's called the challenge, because it takes a lot of dedication.”

A lot of kids complete some of the challenges, but it’s rare for students to qualify for a trophy at the end of the year awards assembly for completing all six.

“They do an amazing job and our parent group actually buys the trophies for us … we have 53 kids and so far six have completed The Great American Challenge, but there’s a couple that are getting really close,” Landwehr said.