Galion PTO’s chess club grows and grows and grows

GALION — The Galion Elementary School Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) “Pawns on Pawns” chess club continues to see a steady incline in participation. The club, now in its third year, has grown to 84 participants.

The club has become so large that students are split in to two groups.

The “Beginner” team is comprised of 28 third-grade students, while the “Experienced” team consists of 56 fourth- and fifth-grade students.

“This year is incredible in terms of participation,” said co-adviser Bryan Summer. “We continue to see the program because older students are encouraging our younger students to participate.”

The two groups have been meeting on alternating weeks since the beginning of February. The PTO is planning to host a tournament for the “Experienced” team in early April.

“This year, we have expanded our lessons to include openings, piece value, notation and endgame,” said co-adviser Adam Lehman. “We are fortunate to have the help of several National Honor Society (NHS) members, whom are quite knowledgeable, friendly and helpful to our players.”

“Paws on Pawns” is a member of the United States Chess Foundation.

The Galion Elementary PTO, in-kind donations from the Galion community and the National Chess Trust has assisted the club in purchasing additional chess sets to accommodate the increase in student participation.

“I want to thank Mr. Summer, Mr. Lehman and all the volunteers for their time and dedication to making the ‘Paws on Pawns’ program a huge success,” said Intermediate School Principal Alex Sharick. “We are fortunate to have a program of this caliber to further expand our students’ critical thinking and reasoning skills outside the classroom.”

For more information about the Galion Elementary PTO “Paws on Pawns” chess club, please contact Bryan Summer at [email protected] or Adam Lehman at [email protected].