- Middle School
Welcome to McCallie Director of Day Admission Adam Webb’s Winter Olympics Trivia Contest. It’s a few minutes after noon on Wednesday, February 11, and the Middle School Forum is filling to the brim with energetic students and wary faculty.
No adult wants to lose to a sixth, seventh, or eighth grader in anything and there is history here, painful history for the MS faculty, of just such a defeat. It was almost exactly a year ago (Feb. 12, 2025) that then-seventh grader Mikhail Imran challenged principal Scotty Jones to a saxophone duel, confident he could knock off the gifted Jones. In a somewhat shocking (wink, wink!) result, Imran’s fellow students voted him the winner. Jones graciously accepted his defeat.
But Webb’s contest consisted of two students from each of the three Middle School grades competing against a teacher of their choosing. Webb would present each grade with two questions. If both the students and teacher answered correctly, each side would be rewarded half a point. If just one side got the correct answer, they would receive a full point. If the teachers and students were tied at the end of the competition, a bonus question of Webb’s choosing would decide it.
Due to the eventual results, the faculty members’ names have been omitted. But the students were as follows: Sixth grade: Samuel Beckley and Hayden Thomas. Seventh grade: Coleman Arnold and Destin Caldwell. Eighth grade: Scott Lillios and Hayes Naggar.
Webb’s questions were strong. The sixth graders were asked, “What two events make up the Nordic Combined?” (Answer: cross-country skiing and ski jumping) and “What is the main difference between the skeleton and the luge?” (Answer: Skeleton is head first, luge is feet first).
The seventh graders got “What two cities are playing host to the 2026 Winter Olympics?” and “What two skills make up the biathlon?” (Correct answers: Milan and Cortina, cross-country skiing, and rifle shooting.)
The eighth graders were presented with “What is the target called in curling?” and “Rank the following three events from fastest to slowest: Downhill skiing, speed skating, and bobsledding.” (Answers: House, and downhill skiing, bobsledding and speed skating.)
The final score was Students 4, Faculty 2. Only eighth graders Lillios and Naggar answered both their questions correctly.
Not that they were all that confident in their answers.
“I hadn’t watched a minute of the Olympics,” said Naggar. “I was just guessing. I definitely felt a lot of pressure.”
Added Lillios, “I was just guessing, too.”
Regardless, they clearly guessed better than their overmatched faculty counterparts.
And the reward for such a resounding victory?
“They get to wear Friday shirts (polos) on Thursday,” said Jones, since school is out on Friday (February 13) for Winter Break. “No ties. A big win for the students.”
Once again.
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- Middle School
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