Battle of the Brains opens Saturday for Vicksburg area students

Published 11:35 am Thursday, April 7, 2022

Warren County’s top elementary, junior high and high school students will test their mental agility Saturday and Monday for a share of $10,500 at the second annual V105.5 Battle of the Brains at Vicksburg Commons, formerly the Outlets at Vicksburg.

The competition will be held in the former BASS Outlet at Vicksburg Commons with the preliminary rounds beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday and the finals beginning at 6 p.m. Monday. Admission is free.

“We have just about every public elementary school competing and the Agape Montessori Christian Academy and St. Aloysius will have junior high and high school teams, as well as the public schools in Warren County,” said Mark Jones, V105.5 owner.

Email newsletter signup

Sign up for The Vicksburg Post's free newsletters

Check which newsletters you would like to receive
  • Vicksburg News: Sent daily at 5 am
  • Vicksburg Sports: Sent daily at 10 am
  • Vicksburg Living: Sent on 15th of each month

“We’ll have four divisions — we’ll have two elementary divisions of six teams each,” Jones said, adding the elementary teams will consist of students in grades 3 through 6. “The first teams will start at 9 a.m. The junior high school teams will start about 1 p.m. and the high school teams about 2:30. It’s sort of like (the TV game show) Jeopardy.”

The teams are selected by the schools and each team consists of four members with one serving as the spokesperson. Jones and Annette Kirklin will be masters of ceremonies and ask questions during the program.

“We’ll have judges in case of a disputed answer, a scorekeeper and a bell ringer to remind teams their 20 seconds are up,” Jones said.

Each team will be asked a question and given 20 seconds to answer. The team members may consult each other for the answer, which is presented by the spokesperson.

If the team fails to answer the question within the allotted time, another team will be asked a new question.

“The opposing team will not have the opportunity to answer the (previous) question,” Jones said. “It would be a bit unfair; they’ve had the chance to think about it.”

The top teams will go to the finals Monday. The program begins at 6 p.m. with shorter rounds of questions. The finalists will each get a share of the $10,500.

“This is open to the public and the admission is free,” Jones said. “You can come on in, sit down and watch it happen.”

About John Surratt

John Surratt is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in general studies. He has worked as an editor, reporter and photographer for newspapers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post staff since 2011 and covers city government. He and his wife attend St. Paul Catholic Church and he is a member of the Port City Kiwanis Club.

email author More by John