Get the Scoop!

Continued from page 9

LeBron Sets Scoring Record

by Reporter Daniel Gordon, Lone Mountain Elementary

On Feb. 7, 2023, eyes were set on NBA legend LeBron James. That fateful day, 38-year-old James was expected to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA scoring record. All that was standing in his way was the Oklahoma City Thunder. With 3.7 million people watching, James did the unthinkable.

The LA Lakers entered the Crypto.com Arena ready to play ball. The arena was full of buzz, expecting the king to deliver, and deliver he did. After an 18-season career, some didn’t expect him to break the record, but they thought wrong. James hit shot after shot, playing some of the best basketball in his career.

James broke the record (38,387 points) that stood for 39 years and cemented his legacy, arguably becoming the true GOAT. The NBA has had major superstars, but not many can dream of becoming the best. James’s work ethic helped him succeed, and now he is the best of the best.

Winning the iCivics Trophy

by Elite Reporter Aleena Rafiyath

On Feb.14, my team of three, Diamond Mayor from BASIS Oro Valley, walked out with the first-place trophy. Five teams from BASIS walked into a gaming center in Gilbert with a myriad of lit-up high-tech e-sports equipment to participate in the iCivics Arizona State E-Tournament and won first, second and third place.

iCivics is a nonprofit organization that provides educational resources and online games to students to promote civic learning. Used in our lesson plans and homework, my AP Government class participated in multiple engaging activities. The iCivics Arizona State E-Tournament was sponsored by the Arizona Supreme Court, Pure E Sports, the Arizona Bar Foundation and Law for Kids.

There were two divisions of the tournament: high school and middle school. The eight teams from BASIS participated in the high school division. In total, there were eight high schools and eight middle schools—five of the high school teams were from BASIS Oro Valley. The trophies were Apple iPads for each member of the team placing first, and a giant golden trophy went to the top three teams.

In late 2022, the competition was introduced, and my peers Nathan Lee, Micaela Collings and I formed our team and used our lessons to practice for the schoolwide qualification rounds. Our qualification iCivics game was Branches of Power, and our points brought us to top eight in the state leaderboard. We were motivated to prepare for the next level in Phoenix.

As the tournament approached, almost all of the teams had put in several hours—each member mastering and specializing in one of the four tournament games. The first round, County’s Work, was completed by Micaela. I participated in the second round of Immigration Nation. Micaela and I boosted our team to top five for our third round teammate, playing Win the White House, to get us to top three.

During the tournament, the tournament host spoke with each team on the livestream about their strategies, the roles of each team member, and inspiration to participate. Our team was interviewed twice, once during the tournament and again after winning.

For the final round, the top three teams were to play Do I Have A Right, a law game based on constitutional amendments. Nathan received first place with all correct answers, earning our team first place. We plan to place our trophy in the trophy collection shelf in our school.

Winning iCivics can be a tough journey requiring teamwork, persistence, and strategy, but it is a great opportunity to engage and demonstrate your knowledge of government in an exciting setting. To learn more about entering the competition or to play engaging government-themed video games, visit the website at icivics.org