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Sunflower State helps student win geography bee PDF Print E-mail
Education
Written by Brian McCauley   
Wednesday, 17 December 2008 08:00
Paola Middle School students answered questions about cities, countries and continents spanning across the globe last week during the annual geography bee, but after several rounds and a handful of tiebreakers in the finals, the competitive event fittingly came down to a question about Kansas.

Seventh-grader Seth Slayman became the geography bee champion after writing down “Kansas” when asked, in which state is Mount Sunflower the highest point. The audience of students, faculty and parents erupted into applause when it was announced that Slayman had the right answer, ending a heated battle against fellow seventh-grader Noah Franz in the finals.

Both students fought through a handful of tiebreaker questions, with either both of them getting the question right or both missing it. Finally, teacher Jody Garrison decided that each student would be asked individual questions to determine a champion.

Thirty students, including some from sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade, took the stage Dec. 10, all hoping to become the top geography guru. The students earned their way into the competition by excelling on a geography bee qualifying test.

In typical spelling bee fashion, the students lined up behind a microphone and took their turns answering questions before taking their seat on the stage. After each round, some students were excused and received applause for their efforts from the crowd.

Each round had a different theme, such as continents and world’s largest cities. The questions got increasingly difficult in each round, leading up to cultural geography in round seven, in which every question was missed.

“That was a tough round,” Garrison said.

Some of the questions focused on the United States, such as “Which city has a smaller population, Phoenix or Boise, Idaho?” and “Which city is closer to the U.S.-Canadien border, Buffalo, N.Y. or Washington D.C.?” The correct answers were Boise and Buffalo.

Others focused on areas across the world, such as “Santiago is the largest city in which country?” and “Veracruz and Acapulco are popular vacation destinations on this continent?” The correct answers were Chile and North America.

In the end though, Slayman’s knowledge of his hometown Sunflower State earned him the championship, as well as a medallion. Both he and Franz received atlases courtesy of Jim Atkins State Farm Insurance in Paola. All of the participants received certificates.

The students who participated in the bee were Erik Bensen, Nathaniel Drummond, Josiah Hadle, Joshua Ham, Faith Johnson, Trent Markus, Jared Moore, Carl Schmidt, Zach Trigg, Renner Wikstrom and Brandon Youk in eighth grade; Kevin Benton, Giovanni Carrete, Noah Franz, Brock Huber, Deonna Jacobson, Katie King, Jenna Ratzlaff, Jackson Setter, Jamie Silvers, Seth Slayman and Sam Wood in seventh grade; Briggs Baltzell, Matt Bensen, Katie Biggs, Colt Evans, Matt Fuchs, Andrew Long, Skyler Smith and Katie Beth Wilson in sixth grade.
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