“Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grade Girl?”

Local celebs to match wits at Oct. 9 fundraiser

Local luminaries from State Sen. Andy Berke to Hamilton County Schools Superintendant Jim Scales will match wits in an Oct. 9 game show, “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grade Girl?”, as part of the fifth annual Blast Off! fundraiser for Girls Incorporated of Chattanooga.
Other celebrity panelists will include Ruth Holmberg, former publisher of the Chattanooga Times; Pete Cooper, president of the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga; Edna Varner, Chattanooga Parent columnist and a consultant for the Public Education Foundation; and Josiah Roe, president of the creative agency Medium. Jed Mescon of Channel 3 Eyewitness News will emcee the contest—the first of its kind held as part of a Blast Off! event, which supports in-school and after-school educational programs for girls aged 6 to 18.
In addition to the game show, guests can enjoy food from local restaurants and other food purveyors, wine and beer, and a silent auction featuring a variety of items and service packages.
Blast Off! is scheduled from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at The Mill, 1601 Gulf St. Tickets are $50 a person or $90 a couple and must be purchased in advance. To order tickets and for more information, visit GirlsIncChattBlog.com, call 624-4757, or mail payment to Girls Incorporated of Chattanooga, 709 South Greenwood Ave., Chattanooga, TN 37404.
According to Bea Lurie, president and CEO of Girls Incorporated of Chattanooga, the organization was founded in 1961 to inspire girls aged 6 to18 to be “strong, smart and bold” and pursue a college education. “It provides a healthy and positive environment where girls enjoy being girls, participate in enriching programs that nurture their capacity for personal achievement, confident adulthood and economic independence, and where girls learn how to advocate for an equitable society,” she says. Through in-school, after-school, summer, spring and fall camps, career academies and outreach programs, it has served more than 23,000 girls in Hamilton County.
An affiliate member of the national Girls Incorporated organization, Girls Incorporated of Chattanooga offers informal educational, cultural and recreational activities that are age- and gender-appropriate, research-based and evaluated, Lurie says. The local organization serves girls throughout Hamilton County with a diversity of incomes, races, abilities, nationalities and religions