As part of the district's participation in the National Geography Bee sponsored by the National Geographic Society, students at Van Antwerp Middle School and Iroquois Middle School participated in geography bees on Jan. 5-6. Soja Moore was the champion at Van Antwerp while Gideon Schmidt was the winner at Iroquois.

Each 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 in the subject and increase public awareness about geography. Schools with students in grades four through eight are eligible for this challenging and entertaining test of geographic knowledge.

Preliminary competitions were held in middle school social studies classrooms, giving all students an opportunity to participate in both the challenge and the fun of the National Geography Bee. The winners of each school competition now go on to take qualifying tests to determine if they may be eligible for a statewide competition held in the spring.

Ten students earned their way to the finals at each school. Moore was the winner at Van Antwerp followed by runner-up Devin Massri. Other Van Antwerp finalists (top photo) include Emma Griffith, Michael Law, Matthew McDermott, Kevan Mooney, Michael Schmitz, Caleb Smith, and Aidan Strayer.

At Iroquois, Kumar Muthukumar was the runner-up to Schmidt. Other Iroquois finalists (bottom photo) include Andrew Barber, Alexandra Maltbie, Jeffrey Martin, Nadia Mirza, Brady Morgan, Noah Rohde, Colin Ryan, and Christopher Sullivan.

Congratulations to all of our geography bee finalists!

(January 7, 2011)