2016 Smackdown winners

Date: May 4, 2016
Contact: Kathleen Harter, 906-483-3024

The Nonesuch Know-It-Alls lived up to their name and won the 14^th annual High School Local History Smackdown! last night at the Calumet Theatre.

Representing Ontonagon &Ewen-Trout Creek High Schools, Nathan Ashbreck, Hannah Davidson, Colton Heikkinen, and Britni Lakkala survived 13 rounds and some serious competition from second place Hanka Homesteaders (Baraga) and the Minettes (Dollar Bay) to claim the champion's trophy. In total, ten teams representing all four Copper Country counties battled to see who could answer the most questions about local history correctly.

"Congratulations to the Nonesuch Know-it-Alls and their coach, Emily Carpenter," said Kathleen Harter, acting superintendent at Keweenaw National Historical Park, which organizes the event. "We are always impressed by how much all the students know about local history. We know how hard they work to learn about the Copper Country—including their national parks—and are proud of them."

The Smackdown is a fast-paced competition in which high school students, in teams of four players, field questions from a Quizmaster about local history, geography, and geology, including questions based on photographs. Two wrong answers and they're out of play, leaving the last team standing to take home the Smackdown trophy.

This year's Smackdown presented a new challenge to the students: 2016 marks the 100^th anniversary of the National Park Service, and in recognition of the two national parks in the Copper Country, organizers threw in some NPS-related questions. Questions covered well-known icons like the Statue of Liberty but also some less-familiar sites, like the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, better known as Gateway Arch. Prizes included NPS backpacks and water bottles, a pizza party, and each school library was given a special National Geographic book about the NPS before the competition to help the students prepare. While the NPS won't feature in next year's Smackdown, another new innovation will: for the first time, park rangers live-Tweeted the competition, giving fans a way to follow the competition from afar.

For more information about the Smackdown or the other activities the park has planned for the Centennial, please contact Keweenaw National Historical Park at 906/337-3168, or visit the web at www.nps.gov/kewe.