While Mount Carmel boxers went toe to toe Saturday, April 25th, the Caravan staff was resting up for their big championship on Monday morning, April 27th, involving the incredibly difficult task of finding and correcting obscure grammar and punctuation mistakes dreamed up by Mr. George Vrechek, who assists in Mr. John Haggerty’s class on journalism.

As is the tradition, the Caravan staff divided into two teams: the Strunks and the Whites, named after Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, a succinct guide to proper usage. David Tabb, Matt McKay, and Sean Kilroy were on the Strunk team. Terrell Greer, Cullen Walsh, and Myles Talton were on the White team. Mr. Vrechek acted as the game-show host.

The first question was an indication of how this hard-fought contest might play out. The sentence involved a student from the northern part of Indiana dancing with his mother. The key to correcting the sentence was to determine that the event’s proper name is the Mount Carmel Mother-Son Dance. The Strunk team found 5 mistakes; the White found 7 of the 8 mistakes in the short sentence. The White team was off with a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.

On the next few sentences, teams wrestled with additional capitalization puzzlers involving sumo wrestling, Taste of MC, nineteenth century, and the student council. Possessives involving Achilles’ heel, Pandora’s box, and Terrell and DeAndre’s football game also provided opportunities for the two teams to compete. Terrell Greer recognized that his brother’s name was misspelled D’Andre on the quiz which earned the Strunk team a valuable additional point.

A tough question each year has involved Coach Himes, his keys, and the office used by several coaches. Since students were following the Strunk and White guide rather than the Associated Press Stylebook, both teams recognized that the keys were Coach Himes’s. Existing signage outside the office used by several coaches added to the confusion over the correct possessive of “the coaches’ office.” Under the pressure of a time limit on the final question, both teams were satisfied that Fr. Tony’s background was polish rather than Polish.

The White team of Greer, Walsh, and Talton accumulated more points than the Strunk team and posed victoriously in front of the championship scoreboard. They will retain bragging rights over their classmates for the remainder of the school year.

The complete championship quiz is found below. A perfect score would involve 52 corrections. Students not taking Journalism (the proper name of the class, and therefore capitalized) this year, are encouraged to try the test or sign up for the class next year, and become a Caravan staff writer like I (probably) was.

James T. Farrell, Class of 1923

THIRD ANNUAL STRUNK AND WHITE MOUNT CARMEL GRAMMAR CHAMPIONSHIP

In the event of a conflict between style guides, Strunk and White’s Elements of Style (which seldom condones alternatives) will be the deciding reference.

Correct the following sentences for all mistakes without changing the base words used. Not every sentence may need correction.

1. Eric Correa who is from the Northern part of Indiana took his Mother to the Mount Carmel mother son dance.
2. Dr. Smith is one of those professors who seems distracted.
3. Juston Woodard looks forward to the taste of MC every year. “This is the best event during spirit week. I love the Basketball tournament and Sumo Wrestling.”
4. Mr. Vrechek warned “you need to be careful when using terms like ‘pandoras box,’ ‘Achilles heal’ and ‘Nineteenth Century’”.
5. Coach Himes keys were left in the coach’s office facing the practice field.
6. Mike Reed, who was President of the Student Council was at Terrell’s and D’Andre’s football game.
7. Neither Myles nor the Seniors is here. Neither the juniors nor Matt are here either.
8. While the exact reason for the color change has not been officially leaked many are speculating its because of Fr. Tony’s polish background.
9. Taylor Swift’s two main tracks, Shake it off and Blank Space, are on her 1989 album.
10. Illinois’s Governor Rauner, along with Arkansas’ Governor, were recently elected.
11. Players signing included: Stowers who signed with the University of Louisville Thomas, who committed to the University of Michigan Carpenter, who signed with Chicago State University and Kapers, who committed to Valparaiso University.
12. Whose smart dog is scratching its own fleas?