SCS National Geo Bee results are in

By David Southworth

Over 400 Shelburne Community School (SCS) students in grades 4-8 participated in this year’s classroom rounds of the National Geographic Geography Bee competition. In a record-setting year, 25 students school-wide, scored a perfect 7 out of 7 points. These students all participated in the single elimination tie-breaker to determine the 10 finalists and eventually the SCS champion.

Congratulations to this year’s winner: 8th grader Peter Antinozzi. The son of Steven and Kit Antinozzi, Peter has taken a test, which included multiple choice and short and long answer questions, in the hopes of qualifying for the state level of competition scheduled for Friday, March 27. Peter outscored second place winner Lars Jensen in a three-round championship competition. Jake Schaefer and Graham Walker tied for third place.

Special recognition is in order for fifth grader Eric Sandage, who was the only non-middle school student to earn a perfect score of 7 points in the preliminary classroom round.

In the tiebreaker rounds, all students received the same questions at the same time, and had 15 seconds to write down their answers. The finals rounds included: questions where all students had the same question at the same time; the interpretation of a “U.S Soccer Participation” map, and individual oral answers.

Students advanced to the following levels:

Qualified for Tiebreaker Round: Abby Fairhurst

Tiebreaker Round 1: Hans Kindstedt, Eric Sandage, Gillian Magnier, and Sydney Johnston

Tiebreaker Round 2: Ella Miller, Kristy Carlson, Meghan Gilwee, Petra Kapsalis, Lena Kerest, Emma Hawko, Caroline McClintock, Avery Sleeper, Owen Palmer, and Mark Tuhacek

Finals Round 2: Clara MacFaden and Jamie Ray

Finals Round 5: Nathan Songer, Lauryn Ouimet, Lucas Rodgers, and Reid Galvin

Third Place Tie: Jake Schaefer and Graham Walker

Second Place: Lars Jensen

First Place: Peter Antinozzi

A special thank you is in order for all of the grades 4-8 classroom teachers and teams, who not only increase the geographical knowledge of their students, but also provide time every year in their busy classroom schedules to support this opportunity for their students.