On Wednesday, Jan. 14, Thomson Middle School held its annual Geography Bee competition among representatives from each of 12 academic teams. Contestants were selected by teachers based on criteria determined by each academic team.
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Geography Bee Winner Kyle Johnson
Special
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In the preliminary round, questions supplied by the National Geographic Association are asked aloud of students, with each pupil answering a different question.
Questions covered a variety of categories, which included U.S. Geography, Traveling around the U.S., U.S. Physical Geography, Odd One Out, Continents, Geography of Cultures, and Economic Geography, in multiple choice format. Students were eliminated after three incorrect answers.
Following this introductory phase, Christopher Kitchens, Sam Lemley, Kyle Johnson, and Matt Stanley advanced to the final round.
In the final round, the first two students to answer two questions incorrectly were eliminated.
Students were given a map of the historical trails in the U.S. and asked questions one at a time about specific trails. Students were read a single question from the preliminary round topics with no answer choices given and were required to write their responses which were displayed simultaneously.
Students also answered more individual questions aloud until the field was narrowed to two.
Kyle and Matt emerged as the winners in the final round and advanced to the head-to-head championship round.
In the championship round, three questions were given at one time and responses were written and displayed upon request.
The contestant with the most correct answers of three was declared the school's champion. Kyle defeated Matt by answering two of three questions correctly to Matt's one of three.
As the school-level victor, Kyle will now take a 100-question written test. Once the test is scored by the state, Kyle may advance to the state-level bee if he achieves a pre-determined preliminary score.
The TMS Geography Bee was conducted under the direction of QUEST teacher Julie Gerlach, and sixth grade social studies teacher Barbara Johnson served as the reader for the event.
The local chapter of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE) donated the registration fee for TMS to participate this year.
