Sixty three students in the Butler Intermediate High School's gifted program finished first in the nation after their showing in the 3-2-1 Competition.

Butler Intermediate High School starts the new year ranked first in the country in a recent academic competition.

Sixty-three gifted students participated in the 3-2-1 Competition and finished as the state champions. They also had the highest score in the nation in their division, finishing with 262 out of a possible 314 points, said Darren Casher, science teacher and co-adviser of the gifted support program.

The 3-2-1 Competition is a general knowledge contest that gives the students three clues to answer each question. If the students answer the question correctly after the first clue, they are awarded three points.

After the second clue, they will earn two points, and one point after the last clue. The students work together to answer the questions.

“On Nov. 28, we had the competition in the auditorium during the first three periods,” said Casher. The questions were shown on video screens, and two of the program's students were computer keyboard operators.

“The students had to answer a total of 156 questions in 90 minutes,” Casher said. “They actually finished them all in 67 minutes.

“An example question was, for three points, 'In what number base does 1 plus 2 equal 10?'

“The second question is 'How many hinges does an exterior residential door typically have?'

“And the third question is 'In 'The Wizard of Oz,' Glenda the Good Witch told Dorothy to click her heels together how many times?'” said Casher. “The answer to all three questions is three. If the students answered the first question correctly they get all six points.”

The gifted students had to come to a consensus on the correct answer. People can argue and get an answer changed if they are persuasive enough.

“All students are giving input discretely,” said Casher. “There is no shouting out the answers. My job is to teach the kids to work together.”

The Butler team worked together enough to get 83.4 percent of the answers correct allowing the seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade students to finish first in the state and the nation.

Steve Dobransky, principal at Butler Intermediate High School, said, “They've competed for the last five years. This is the highest they've finished.

“But whenever we go to these competitions, Butler students do very well, well above the average,” said Dobransky.

“Kids have the option to participate in these competitions,” said Dobransky. “They give up their lunches to practice. It takes hard work and preparation.”

Casher said he and gifted program co-adviser Elizabeth DeThomas, don't do any drilling or prepping the students other than a few practice sessions.

“There's no after-school activities. Mostly they will get together and eat and practice at lunch,” said Casher.

“These kids have such a vast array of outside interests: music, geography, history, math,” said Casher, that someone usually comes up with the answer.

The gifted students will face another round of 3-2-1 questions in May with a chance to qualify for the national competition.