Ten students competed in DCD’s annual Geography Bee, sponsored by National Geographic, on Thursday, January 25. Middle school head Nate Buffum presided over the contest in which two representatives each from grades 4 through 8 vied for the coveted spot of school-wide geography whiz kid.
This year’s Bee featured both repeat and new competitors. Questions required knowledge of both domestic and international maps, bodies of water, and important landmarks throughout the world.
After several rounds of questions, sixth grader Jay Caponigro, competing for the first time, and seventh grader Matthew Volfson, a three-time winner of the Bee competing for the fourth time, emerged as the two finalists to for the final challenge round. After some very difficult questions, Matthew protected his title by answering more of the challenge questions correctly.
Matthew has won the contest at DCD all four years that he has been eligible to compete, and in this year’s Bee, he didn’t make any mistakes, answering all of his questions correctly.
Now, for the third time, Matthew will once again join other winners of Geography Bees from schools across the country in taking a written test to qualify for the statewide competition. Winning participants at the state level will then compete at the national level for a chance to win a National Geographic trip and a $50,000 scholarship.
Congratulations, Matthew, and all of the participants. Keep studying those maps and reading the newspaper!
The full list of competitors is given below:
Grade 4: Matthew Kimball, Warren Strominger
Grade 5: Neil Burmeister, Brooks Sjostrom
Grade 6: Jay Caponigro, Hannah Pavlos
Grade 7: Martha Arends, Matthew Volfson
Grade 8: Jack McNealy, Gunner Peterson
