Students at both Newtown Middle School and Reed Intermediate School participated in the final rounds of the National Geographic Bee at the schools. NMS held its final competition on January 24, and Reed held its on February 1.

Students who took part in the final competitions events were the representatives of their clusters. They passed previous rounds of the competition to make it into the final rounds.

The National Geographic Bee takes place in participating schools across the country. Each school's winning student goes on to complete a test to determine whether they will compete at the state level of the bee.

Students who qualify at the state level, progress to the national level of the competition, according to National Geographic.

At NMS on January 24, teachers Barry Palmer, Shari Oliver, and Andrew San Angelo ran the event and Principal Tom Einhorn read questions. The NMS final round of the Bee was held after school, and parents, friends, and supportive NMS faculty gathered in the auditorium to watch the students take part.

NMS students who participated in the National Geographic Bee were seventh graders Sarah Armstrong, Kirtana Kunzweiler, Zach Lehecka, and Filippo Formica and eighth graders Mitchell Schrader, James Hillfield, Cameron Whorf, and Jamie Adams.

The different rounds of the competition required students to answer different types of questions; some needed oral answers and some required students to write responses.

After multiple rounds, Mitchell and Filippo faced off in a championship tie-breaking round, and Mitchell was named as the school's National Geographic Bee champion.

"Mitchell's best prize is he gets to take a test," said Mr Palmer, explaining that Mitchell will take a test to qualify for the state level of the competition.

Reed teachers Matt Dalton and Michael Corvello ran the event at their school on February 1. Reed Principal Anne Uberti read the questions for the students.

The event at Reed was held as an assembly before the whole school.

Reed students who participated in the National Geographic Bee were sixth graders Nate Lewis, Matthew Holden, Daniel Belmuth, Rinor Limani, Ben Barber, Ryann Los, and Daniel Michael.

Daniel and Matthew faced off in the final round of Reed's National Geographic Bee, and Daniel was named as the school's champion.

[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-305741" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/National-Geographic-Bee-Held-At-NMS-And-Reed-NMS-Students-photo-by-Maleeha-Ali-CROPPED-FOR-WEBSITE.jpg" alt="National Geographic Bee Held At NMS And Reed, NMS Students, photo by Maleeha Ali CROPPED FOR WEBSITE" width="800" height="750" /]

Newtown Middle School students who took part if the National Geographic Bee sit together before the final round of the competition on January 24. From left, front row, are Filippo Formica, James Hillfield, Zach Lehecka, Kirtana Kunzweiler, and Sarah Armstrong; back row, Mitchell Schrader, Cameron Whorf, and Jamie Adams.

-Maleeha Ali photo

[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-305742" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/EH_-National-Geographic-Bee-Held-At-NMS-And-Reed-Reed-students-with-Uberti-Daltonc-CROPPED-FOR-WEBSITE.jpg" alt="EH_ National Geographic Bee Held At NMS And Reed, Reed students with Uberti & Dalton CROPPED FOR WEBSITE" width="800" height="488" /]

After competing in the school's final competition of the National Geographic Bee, students - from left, Rinor Limani, Ben Barber, Daniel Belmuth, Matthew Holden, Ryann Los, Nate Lewis, and Daniel Michael - stand with Principal Anne Uberiti, left, and teacher Matt Dalton.

-Bee Photo, Hallabeck