Ventura County Academic Rodeo

The Ventura County Academic Rodeo is an academic competition and spelling bee held in Ventura County in Southern California for elementary school and middle school students.

According to this page, "The Academic Rodeo is an academic team competition for children currently in or having completed the 4th or 5th grade for the Academic Ponies, or 6th 7th and 8th grade for the Academic Stallions. The competition which runs during the Ventura County Fair includes timed quizzes, toss up questions, vocabulary definitions and for the Academic Stallions a spelling bee. Prizes are given for first, second, third and fourth place. There are no entry fees or costs to participate. Competition is open to all schools and organized youth groups located in Ventura County."

According to this article, "The state championship is the brainchild of Hal Beaver, Academic Rodeo superintendent for the county fair, which ends today. This is the third year Ventura County teams have hosted the championship. 'I literally woke up one morning and just thought it would be nice for the kids to bring other teams in and compete,' Beaver said. He said he spends all year collecting the nearly 1,000 trivia questions used in the two competitions--drawing from books, newspapers, magazines and television. For Saturday's contestants, Beaver's collection of brain-twisters and 25-cent words produced enough anxiety to fuel an entire season of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'".

According to this article, "The spelling bee was the final round in the Stallions competition, which featured nine teams of middle-school students from throughout the County. Earlier rounds included the Academic Challenge Quiz, which required the teams to answer questions in a category of their choice, ranging from the Middle Ages to Atoms. This was followed by the "Toss Up Round," in which teams competed against each other to answer thirty questions about subjects including math, art, science, literature and grammar. The morning ended with a vocabulary competition. All of the competitors impressed the audience with their knowledge. Responding to an informal poll by announcer and KBBY DJ Bo Jaxon, most of the spectators admitted that they knew the answers to less than half the questions the kids were asked."

Sample Ponies questions can be found here, while sample Stallions questions can be found here.