Highlandtown # 237 (The Highlandtown Hawks), a Southeast CDC Community School partner, just won the Citywide Elementary School Chess Championship at Johns Hopkins University. This was the first year Highlandtown # 237 entered the competition, and it beat the existing citywide champion, Roland Park, with a team of fourth graders coached by two fourth grade teachers, Kristen Barnes and Kimberly Thomas.
The only girl on the team, a ten year old, started it off by taking 1st place in the novice category at an earlier tournament, elevating the team into the citywide competition.
According to Coach Thomas, “They are determined, motivated, and dedicated players who attended every session, exhibited tremendous teamwork that helped them come together cohesively to actually win something big. They’ve only been playing for 8 months—and they won against kids who have been playing for 5-6 years.”
Principal Denise Ashley had some words of wisdom for the champions, “practice hard for next year, because all the other schools will be trying to beat us!”