Students Enjoy A Good Old-Fashioned Geography Bee

By Susan Coney

Reed Intermediate students gathered to cheer on classmates and friends at the 2006 Geography Bee, which took place on Monday, January 9, in the school’s cafetorium.

Sixth grade finalists calmly responded to questions asked by assistant principal Tony Salvatore. Some questions were answered by having the students write their answers on a white board and showing them to the audience, giving the contest a Jeopardy, game show feeling.

As the contest progressed and students were eliminated, the audience, though very well behaved, quietly cheered on those who remained in the competition. Mr Salvatore had to caution those in the audience not to call out answers to the questions; tiny whispers could be heard, however, as the excitement grew.

Finally Ashley Cirone, a student from Valerie Pachniuk’s room, claimed the victory with Zachary Klang coming in second and Tommy Stewart placing third. Other finalists were Nick DeBlasio, Tami Corsi, Michael Cascone, Sean Burson, Ryan Cromwell, and Spencer Erhardt. As the happy winner, Ashley stated that she was very excited to be the winner and had studied very hard for the competition.

Sixth grade social studies and math teacher Maura Drabik helped to organize the Reed geography contest. She commented that Ashley would now be given a multiple choice test to see if she qualifies proceed to the state competition.

Ms Drabik stated that as many as 100 contestants may advance to the state competition. She said that at the state level children in grades four through eight would compete against one another to advance to the national level. The National Geographic Bee, sponsored by National Geographic magazine, takes place in Washington, D.C., in May, with game show host Alex Trebek on hand to ask the questions. The first place winner at the national competition will earn a $25,000 college scholarship, second place a $15,000 scholarship, and third place a $10,000 scholarship. All three top winners also receive a $500 cash award. In addition, the top seven runners up each win a $500 cash award.

At the middle school contest, which was held on January 5, Louis Belanger took first place, with seventh graders Matt Jensen and Ayesha Dholakia placing second and third, respectively. Unlike the intermediate school contest, the middle school competition was held privately with only the contestants and teachers present. Louis commented that he really was not nervous because it was just a few people gathered together for the contest in a regular classroom and not like being up in front of an audience on a stage.

Social studies teachers Will Ryan and Andrew San Angelo organized the middle school competition. Mr San Angelo stated that it was a close and exciting match. Winner Louis Belanger is no newcomer to geography bee competition; he won as a sixth grader at Reed and went on to compete that year in the statewide contest.

Every year thousands of schools in the United States participate in the National Geographic Bee using materials prepared by the National Geographic Society. The contest is designed to encourage teachers to include geography in their classrooms, spark student interest and increase public awareness about geography.

For more information about the National Geographic Bee visit www.nationalgeographic.com/bee/.