NMS Names Geography Bee Winner

By Eliza Hallabeck

As Newtown Middle School social studies teacher Shari Oliver explained to assembled students and parents in the school’s auditorium on Friday, January 20, the ten students gathered in a line on the stage had made their way through multiple rounds to represent their clusters in this year’s National Geographic Geography Bee at the school.

Each student had competed against roughly 85 to 90 other students to make it to the final round of the competition, she said.

“So these are very impressive people up here,” said Ms Oliver, before describing the rules of the National Geographic Geography Bee.

The National Geographic Geography Bee takes place in schools across the country, and each school’s winning student goes on to compete at the state level. Students who progress past the state level will continue on to the national level, where they could potentially win a $25,000 scholarship and an all-expense paid trip to the Galapagos Islands.

Reed Intermediate School held its National Geographic Geography Bee on Monday, January 9, and sixth grader Tristan Filiato was named as Reed’s Geography Bee Champion after multiple rounds.

At NMS on Friday, eighth graders Scott Alexander, Noah Burhance, Joey Conrod, Trevor Gaines, Tim Jaeger, Quinlan Hart, Frankie Mattia, Alana Murray, Calvin Savoia, and Joanna Vodola competed in the geography bee.

After multiple rounds and a championship round between Calvin and Joanna, NMS social studies teacher Andrew San Angelo proclaimed, “Joanna is our winner.”

Newtown Middle School Principal Diane Sherlock acted as the moderator for the geography bee.

Different forms of questions were asked during each round of the National Geographic Geography Bee. For some questions students wrote responses on personal white boards, and for one round students used a map to find locations that would meet the question asked of them.

As the geography bee champions from Reed and NMS, Tristan and Joanna will take a written qualifying test before January 30, and will hear from the state level of the competition if they qualify to participate in the state geography bee by the start of March.