NMS Student Places Third

In State Geography Bee

By Martha Coville

Can you name the last two South American countries to gain their independence? How many cities can you identify by their skylines?

Newtown Middle School seventh grader Aidan Pelisson knows the answer to this first question, and can identify cities as unfamiliar to most Americans as Beijing by their skylines. Aidan recently won third place in the Connecticut Geographic Bee.

This was actually Aidan’s second trip to the state finals. Last year, he placed eighth in the contest.

“I like geography,” said Aidan of his continued success. “I always liked it, just reading about it. I have an atlas, it doesn’t just show ‘Philadelphia is here and Pittsburgh is here.’ It has more detail.

“Some of the questions at the Connecticut Bee were really hard, and some were easier,” he said. “To study, I went on the computer and went onto National Geographic’s Flags and Facts website. That tells you about countries and states and even Canadian provinces.”

NMS social studies teacher Andrew SanAngelo and special education teacher Ingrid McClay traveled to the Central Connecticut State College campus in New Britain to cheer on Aidan. “Ms McClay and I went up,” he said, “but we couldn’t make it into the preliminary rounds, because it was too crowded.”

Aidan said he won “some cool stuff” in prizes. “I got $50 and a cool-looking globe, and some other stuff, but the ones I liked best were the $50 and the globe.”

The Geographic Bee is a national competition for students in the fourth through eighth grades sponsored by the National Geographic Society.

Aidan also said that he is looking forward to competing in the contest one last time, as an eighth grader.

And in answer to the opening question: Suriname and Guyana were the last South American countries to gain independence.