Southeast resident among statewide high school Battle of the Books champs

FAIRBANKS - An Interior Distance Education in Alaska (IDEA) high school team successfully defended the first place title for the statewide high school Battle of the Books.

• Photos

Courtesy Of Genny Brown

The "Spear-Throwing Cheetahs MTM," an anagram of the team members' first names, won an exciting seven sudden death rounds on Feb. 15 in Fairbanks.

Team members sophomore Matthew Symons (the spokesperson), senior Christopher Symons (the brain) and senior Megan Murayama (the writer) came from across Alaska. The Symons brothers are from Central Alaska, and Murayama is from Shelter Island, approximately five miles from Juneau. Kathleen Kinney was the team coach.

IDEA is a correspondence program with the Galena City School District and has 3,500 students statewide.