Fairland talented and gifted teacher Kara Speed gathered her group of students around her for one last pep talk before going into the fray.

“Now it’s one, two, three, Dragons,” they all cried out.

Then they headed to their places on the makeshift podium Friday morning at the First Baptist Church in Ironton as they began competition for this spring’s Quiz Bowl for fifth and sixth graders from the county’s talented and gifted classes.

The first round of questioning was between Fairland and Chesapeake teams as South Point, Ironton, Rock Hill and Symmes Valley prepared to compete.

“I think this is great,” Speed said. “Some of these kids are such readers and they have such a variety of information.”

Speed also sees this as a way for students to interact with other TAG students.

This was the lower level version of the question-answer format competition that has spring meets between junior high and high school students as well.

The fifth-sixth grade Quiz Bowl was started about 15 years ago and is coordinated by the Lawrence County Educational Service Center.

“This gives all the TAG students in the county a chance to meet their peers,” Yvonne Stroud of the county ESC, said. “It promotes a healthy competition. The kids are really excellent and they look forward to it this year.”

This was the first year for Cecily O’Neill, a fifth grader at Ironton, to participate.

“I like general knowledge and this brings pride in your school,” she said.

Friday’s games were the second time for Megan Cox and Kelly Ronans, both from Chesapeake.

“We get to see how other students are taught,” Megan said. “You can learn about other schools.”

“I love meeting a challenge,” Kelly said. “And you learn new stuff from the questions.”