January 25, 2011 - A team of 15 sixth grade students at Kealing Middle School recently placed first in the State of Texas Knowledge Master Open academic competition, and third nationally. The students scored 755 of 1000 possible points, getting 93 out of 100 questions correct.

Cara Crouch, co-coach of the KMO team, described the contest as “one of endurance, speed and accuracy that challenged the students like they have never been challenged before.”  
 
Thousands of sixth grade students in hundreds of schools throughout the country, and in many foreign countries, competed January 19 in the Knowledge Master Open academic competition. The participating students faced their computers and 100 tough questions to compete for top scores based on both the accuracy and speed of their answers.  
 
Students on the Kealing team were: Varun Sudunagunta, Michael Xu, Jose Castro, Daniel Gostein, Haley Thompson, Billy Thompson, Gabe Alvarez, Devon Nelms, John Sebastian Bell, Jessica Gitre, Amire Downing, Jessie Ren, Junha Choi, Quinn Simpson, and Tai Hoang. Coaches for the team are William Shoaf and Ms. Crouch.  
 
The Knowledge Master Open was designed to stimulate enthusiasm for learning and recognition for academic accomplishment. The contest runs on classroom computers to allow all students the opportunity to compete in a large academic event without the expense of traveling to a central site. Results of the contest are tabulated into overall, state, and an enrollment size ranking by Academic Hallmarks, a Colorado publishing firm that hosts the event.