NMS And Reed Geography Bees Name One Champion Each

By Eliza Hallabeck

Eighth grader Michael Lally made it through multiple preliminary rounds and a championship round before being named this year’s National Geographic Geography Bee Champion for Newtown Middle School, after school on Friday, January 8. Sixth grader Brandon Johnson did the same at Reed Intermediate School on Wednesday, January 13.

The nine competitors at NMS on Friday were Liam Decker, Kevin Conte, Chris Horkachuck, Jenna Hansen, Michael Lally, Ellen Moran, Charlie Poarch, Kate Wojcik, and Billy Begg. Competitor Joseph Praino was absent for the bee.

“They are the top from each cluster in geography,” said social studies teacher Andrew SanAngelo before the bee began.

Mr SanAngelo acted as judge for the event, assisted by social studies teacher Shari Oliver; Principal Diane Sherlock read the bee’s questions, as provided by National Geographic.

“You have come a lot further than the 950 other students we have in the school,” said Mr SanAngelo to the Geography Bee contestants. “So you are the top one percent. Congratulations.”

From there, Mr SanAngelo read the rules for the bee.

Different forms of questions were asked for each round. For some students were questioned individually, and had 15 seconds to respond. Other questions had all nine participating students write their answers on a sheet of paper before time ran out.

Only one student was eliminated after the first round, which included questions like, “Camp David, a presidential retreat in the Catoctin Mountains, is located in which state?”

The second round eliminated two more students, leaving six contestants still in the game. All of the remaining contestants had answered one question incorrectly so far. To be eliminated students had to answer two questions incorrectly.

With Ms Sherlock asking questions like, “Which present day state, bordered by Montana to the north and South Dakota to the east, was the first to give women the right to vote in 1869?,” three more students were eliminated from the third round.

Ellen Moran, Michael Lally, and Billy Begg remained, but after the third round came to a close, both Ellen and Billy had incorrectly answered one more question each.

One student was needed to move on to the championship round with Michael, who had correctly answered each of his questions in the third round, entering him automatically into the championship round.

Billy correctly named the Rio Grande as the river forming part of the United States and Mexico’s border, moving him forward into the championship round.

In the championship round, Michael correctly answered more questions than Billy, making him this year’s NMS National Geographic Geography Bee champion. As the runner up, Billy received a commemorative T-shirt and a trophy. Michael received a T-shirt, trophy, medal and a bag.

Mr SanAngelo said Michael will take a written test in the near future, which will be sent in to National Geographic to determine whether he will move on to the next stage in the bee, which would be at the state level.

Michael said his studying technique involves studying online and having his family quiz him.

“And half my wall is filled up with a huge map,” said Michael, just after winning this year’s bee.

Reed National Geographic

Geography Bee

At the start of the school day January 13, Reed Intermediate students attended a schoolwide assembly in the school’s cafetorium for their school’s National Geographic Geography Bee.

Nine competitors sat patiently on the stage as their fellow students assembled before them.

Michael Doyle, Lexi Badick, Laura Hornby, Abigail Kohler, Gemma Hyeon, Matthew Ingwersen, Brandon Johnson, Justin Nathenson, and Emily Charash made it through seven rounds of questions in their clusters to be named as the nine finalists for the school’s National Geographic Geography Bee.

“It is happening across our country,” said Reed teacher Maura Drabik about the National Geographic Geography Bee, “in all 50 states, and any territory that is within the US.”

Ms Drabik explained the winner from the event could make it to the national level of the competition, where the first place winner will receive $15,000 and a trip to the Galapagos Islands.

“So this is something exciting for our students up here today,” Ms Drabik said.

Next, Reed Principal Sharon Epple, who acted as moderator for the event, read the instructions for the bee.

“The rulings of Judge Drabik are final,” Dr Epple warned the bee competitors.

Then the bee began, with Dr Epple asking questions like, “Which state, with a panhandle in its north, is a leading producer of potatoes?”

This year’s bee broke a record for the school, by lasting 14 rounds.

Michael Doyle and Brandon Johnson moved into the championship round. After multiple rounds, Brandon was named the winner for Reed’s National Geographic Geography bee.

Brandon said he had a number of studying techniques when studying geography.

But, he said, his biggest help was “mostly my grandma, Joanne Johnson, she’s a retired fifth grade teacher. Her teaching me geography helped me be here.”