Eighth grader Noah Poesnecker won MMI Preparatory School’s in-school competition of the National Geographic Bee and will advance in the competition for a chance to win a $50,000 college scholarship. Sixth grader Heath Williams was the runner-up in MMI’s competition.
Poesnecker is the son of Renee Poesnecker of Mountain Top and the late Devon Poesnecker. Williams is the son of Atty. Richard and Shannon Williams of Mountain Top. MMI Social Sciences instructor Grete Floryshak is the National Geographic Bee adviser.
The School National Geographic Bee, at which students answered questions on geography, was the first round in the 30th annual National Geographic Bee, a geography competition designed to inspire and reward students’ curiosity about the world.
The preliminary competition of MMI’s school National Geographic Bee consisted of seven preliminary rounds of 35 questions each, which students had to answer in 15 seconds or less. The preliminary competition determined a maximum of 10 students who advanced to the final competition of the school Bee.
The final competition consisted of a final round and a championship round. The final round questions reduced the number of contestants to two, Poesnecker and Williams. During the final round, a contestant was eliminated after answering two questions incorrectly, and questioning continued until the third-place winner and two finalists were determined.
Starting with a clean slate, the two finalists then competed in the championship round, which consisted of three questions. The student who answered the most questions correctly would be named the school champion. The competitors were asked the same question simultaneously and had 15 seconds to write their answer on the paper provided.
Poesnecker, along with other school champions, will now take a qualifying test as the next step in the
competition. Up to 100 of the top scorers on that test in each state will then be eligible to compete in their state Bee on April 6. The state winners will advance to participate in the National Geographic Bee national championship rounds from May 20-23 in Washington, D.C. where they have the chance to win a $50,000 college scholarship, among other prizes.
Thousands of students in fourth through eighth grades around the United States and in the five U.S. territories are participating in the 2018 National Geographic Bee. The National Geographic Society developed the National Geographic Bee in 1989 in response to concerns about the lack of geographic knowledge among young people in the United States.
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