Reed Conducts 2012 Geography Bee

By Eliza Hallabeck

“Welcome to the 2012 Geography Bee,” said Reed Intermediate School sixth grade teacher Maura Drabik before fifth and sixth grade students in Reed’s cafetorium on Monday, January 9.

Monday marked the concluding challenge facing sixth graders Tristan Filiato, Christopher Faxon, Claudia Harrison, Jack Bittman, Lucy Draper, David Lawrence, Matt Menousek, Aidan O’Leary, and Kevin Riccardi, who all competed in the preliminary tests within their clusters to advance to Monday’s final event for the National Geographic Geography Bee at Reed.

After multiple rounds and many questions asking the students to name towns, states, read maps, and more, Tristan Filiato was named his school’s National Geographic Geography Bee champion. Christopher Faxon came in second in the competition, and Claudia Harrison came in third.

Newtown Middle School is set to have its 2012 National Geographic Geography Bee on Friday, January 20.

Ms Drabik said 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.

To make it to the cafetorium state on January 9, the nine contestants at Reed first passed seven rounds tests within their clusters.

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 other questions students used a map to find locations that would meet the question asked of them.

According to Ms Drabik, as the Reed National Geographic Geography Bee Champion, Tristan will take a written qualifying test before January 30, and will hear from the state level of the competition if he qualifies to participate in the state geography bee by the start of March.