Jefferson awarded final PVC Silver Cup
Jefferson High School Principal Charley Burch and Superintendent/ Elementary Principal Tim Jermain stand with the Platte Valley Conference Silver Cup award after the school district claimed the top finish in the conference-wide competition for the 2015-2016 school year.
The Jefferson C-123 school district has come out on top of the Platte Valley Conference Silver Cup Challenge in the award’s final year.
In the final year of the Platte Valley Conference, the Jefferson Eagles have a lot of takeaway memories as a school.
A lot of those memories have come from their athletic success, but one that will stand out is the silver cup.
“Winning the silver cup is always something we like to accomplish as a school because it really does put you against other conference schools in every aspect,” Jermain said. “It was extra special this year knowing that it would be the last year as the PVC Silver Cup.”
The silver cup combines athletic success with end of course test scoring and the success of conference scholar bowls.
In a track-style scoring system where the top team scores the most points followed by the next most points for second place, and so on, the combined points are then tallied for the overall winner. While most years the winning school is only ahead by one or two points, Jefferson finished this year seven points ahead of the next school, North Andrew.
Jermain said the silver cup has been something special for the PVC these last several years.
“What we liked so much about this award as administrators was that you didn’t just have to be good in one thing to win,” Jermain said. “It also ties in the test scores so that you can truly say that every student in your high school contributed to your success. It means a lot to our school because our small numbers demand high participation by all of our students, and we’re still successful.”
Jermain chalks up all the success to his students and faculty.
“Our kids have taken a lot of pride in the success we have here at Jefferson,” Jermain said. “The years that we have won the cup, our great test scores have attributed just as much to our success as our athletics have, so it truly is a school-wide effort by both our students and faculty.”
Jefferson won the first-ever PVC Silver Cup for the 2010-2011 school year.
DeKalb won the following year, and North Andrew won the two years after that. Jefferson has been able to take home the trophy in the PVC’s final two years.
While it may be the last year as the PVC Silver Cup, Jermain hopes the contest can continue as a number of the PVC schools combine this school year with those in the 275 Conference. There will be some kinks to work out though before it can happen.
“There has been talk of continuing this tradition as we merge with the 275 Conference,” Jermain said. “There are no definite plans, but it does present some challenges since many of the PVC schools have softball and the 275 schools have volleyball. Also only half offer baseball or cross country. So it’s just figuring out the scoring system and everything to make it fair.”