NMS Students Participate In Geography Bee

By Eliza Hallabeck

Students tested their knowledge of geography after school at Newtown Middle School on Friday, January 9, when the school held its yearly Geography Bee.

The Imperial Valley, Reno, Mount Rainier, and Mesa Verde were some of the places the students used to place or understand the area they needed to find.

“In September 2008, Hurricane Ike made landfall as a category two storm and devastated the town of Galveston, located on the coast of which state?” NMS Principal Diane Sherlock said as she read the questions for the Geography Bee.

The students sat in a row on the stage in desks that had been placed there for the purpose of the Geography Bee.

“These are the ten cluster champions,” said NMS teacher Andrew SanAngelo.

Students from seventh grade who participated were Jeffrey Haylon, Nancy Michaud, Katie Wojcik, Devon Febbrio, and Michael Lally. Students from eighth grade who participated were Aidan Pelisson, Patrick Haggerty, Danielle Chaloux, Justin Sheridan, and Anthony Padgett.

Prior to the event, the ten students had to test their geographic knowledge against students in their cluster. The winner of the Geography Bee on Friday will be given a test and the chance to move up to the state level of the tournament.

Different types of questions were asked to test the students’ geographic capability. Some questions had students write answers down on a sheet of paper and show the judge, Mr SanAngelo, their answer once the time was up. Other question formats had the students respond individually to different questions. At the end of each round, students who had incorrectly answered at least two questions were eliminated.

In September 2008 Hurricane Ike devastated Galveston, which is on the coast of Texas, as multiple students responded correctly on their sheets of paper for the Geography Bee.

The ten students eventually were boiled down to two remaining students, Justin Sheridon and Aidan Pellisson, for the championship round. After two questions, the winner of the Geography Bee was Aidan.

Each student who participated was given a medal and shook hands with Mr SanAngelo for their efforts. Aidan also received a shirt and a medal for winning.

“I just go online and study,” said Aidan after winning. Aidan has won his school’s Geography Bee for the last two years, last year at NMS and the year before that at Reed Intermediate School. Each year he succeeded in making it to the state level of the competition.

Last year Aidan received third place at the state level, and the year before that he received eighth in the state.

Aidan said participating in Geography Bees are 50 percent knowledge and 50 percent luck.