Middle School Students Compete in National Geography Bee


Twenty-six Memorial Middle School students in grades six through eight demonstrated their knowledge of world geography in the Fifth Annual Memorial Middle School Geography Bee held at the school this week.

Designed to encourage the teaching and study of geography, the contest, sponsored by the National Geographic Society and Google, is held at participating schools across the country from November through January. The nationwide competition, which is open to students in grades four through eight, consists of three levels; school, state and national.

According to Middle School Teacher and Bee Coordinator Mrs. Lisa Miller, all Memorial Middle School students were eligible to participate in the contest.

"Participants were selected based on their scores on a qualifying test that was administered in their Social Studies classes," said Mrs. Miller. "Today's competition is the culmination of that qualifying test and will fulfill the school component of the competition."

The 26 competitors exhibited their geographical prowess during seven grueling rounds of the Preliminary Competition. Assistant Principal and Bee Moderator Mr. Gary Floyd questioned the students on a wide range of topics including US Geography, US Cities, Continents, US Historical Geography and more. The 10 students with the most correct answers at the end of the seventh round advanced to the Final Round.

Sam Haber, McCartin McCabe, William Elwell and Eileen Parks answered all questions correctly and automatically advanced to the finals. Kevin Caulfield, Sam Feldman, Matt Pell, Brendan Hart, Daniel Hunt, Thomas Martin and Trevor Sackman each missed one question incorrectly, but because only 10 students can compete in the Final Round, a tiebreaker was initiated and in the end, Trevor Sackman was eliminated.

During the Final Round, the 10 remaining students were asked increasingly more difficult questions. Contestants were eliminated after answering two questions incorrectly. By the third question, half of the finalists were eliminated. The champions were established by the answer portion of question five with only Sam Haber and William Elwell left standing.

Upon their designation as champions, Sam and William immediately entered into the Championship Round of the competition during which the school level winner would be determined by answering the best out of three questions. And by the end of question three, Sam Haber was established as the winner of the 2009-2010 Memorial Middle School Geography Bee.

"This is Sam's second time winning the Geography Bee," said Assistant Principal Floyd. "In sixth grade he placed 16th in the state which is very impressive considering all students participate at the same level regardless of their age and grade."

Within the next couple weeks, Sam will take a written test to determine if he will qualify to advance to the state level of the competition.

"If Sam's score is among the top 100 in the state, he will advance to the state level competition in April," said Mr. Floyd. "Should he win the state competition he will travel to National Geographic headquarters with the other state winners to compete in the national finals for scholarships in the amount of U.S. $25,000, $15,000 and $10,000!"

"According to a recent National Geographic poll of people aged 18 to 24, Americans scored second to last on overall geographic knowledge," said Superintendent of Schools Vincent S. Smith. "These dismal results underscore the need for comprehensive lessons in geography. In the increasingly global community in which we live, knowledge of geography is essential," continued Mr. Smith. "This competition provides a forum for students to test their geographic knowledge while impressing upon them the importance of learning geography.