Each year, local senior center teams participate in a battle of the wits to be named Upper Cumberland Senior Brain Games champions and for a chance to challenge other seniors in the state in their trivia knowledge. This year, three Baxter seniors took home that title and will advance in the competition to represent the region in the Middle Tennessee Senior Brain Games.
The Baxter Senior Center’s team known as the Baxter Busy Bees I became the district champions after battling against five other teams in the trivia-based competition hosted by the Upper Cumberland Area Agency on Aging and Disability (AAAD) on Wednesday, August 2, 2017.
The district game, held at South Fentress Elementary School, included a total of six senior center teams: Baxter Busy Bees I, Baxter Busy Bees II, Fentress Banner Belles, Fentress Fossils, Smith County Whipper Snappers and Smithville Under Eighties.
“We look forward to the Senior Brain Games each year,” Patty Ray, director of AAAD said. “The games are challenging, and this year’s group did an excellent job. We’d also like to thank South Fentress Elementary School and principal Linda Hodgen for providing an excellent facility for us to hold the program.”
As district champions, Baxter Busy Bees I team members Dianne Elmore, Karen Brown and Ralph Short will represent the Upper Cumberland region as they go head-to-head against two other Middle Tennessee teams in the semi-final regional competition to be held at the Coffee County Senior Center in Tullahoma on September 15th.
If the Baxter Busy Bees I win the semi-final competition, they will represent Middle Tennessee in the Senior Brain Games state championship to be held October 19th in Jonesborough, Tennessee.
Sponsored by the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability, in partnership with the Upper Cumberland Area Agency on Aging and Disability, the Senior Brain Game initiative is designed to help keep seniors mentally active, provide an opportunity for social interaction, and get some healthy competition going among senior communities throughout the state.
Under the adopted format, teams of three players each work together to answer the questions presented, pooling their knowledge base. There is also the added element of risk, as the team bases point values on the confidence of their answers in specific categories. The Senior Brain Games competition is therefore, both strategy-based and knowledge-based.
The Area Agency on Aging and Disability(AAAD), a division of the Upper Cumberland Development District, connects older adults and adults with disabilities in the 14-county Upper Cumberland region with services and resources to improve their quality of life. Find AAAD on the web at www.ucdd.org and at facebook.com/UCDDconnect.
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