Noah Gamble gave an excellent performance in the state level competition of the National Geo Bee held in Middlebury on Friday, April 9. Noah, the son of Becky and Marc Gamble, was the SCS Geo Bee winner for the second consecutive year, and this year he was extremely successful in the state competition, which included about 90 school winners.

First, Noah tied for first place in his preliminary competition, and then he was successful in the single elimination tie-breaker competition earning one of the remaining four positions in the top ten finalists. In the double elimination state finals, Noah stayed in contention for five rounds resulting in his final position as tied for sixth place in the state - the second highest accomplishment in SCS history. All but two of the remaining finalists were eliminated on the very next question, and those two students, who like Noah, represented a CSSU school (Hinesburg and Charlotte), competed for a dramatic 13 rounds before William Hodgson-Walker of Charlotte became this year's Vermont state champion. William will now go to Washington, D.C, to compete in the nationals in May.

In the preliminary round, Noah received questions concerning U.S. and country comparisons, economic and physical geography, historic homes, U.S. sister cities, world bodies of water and current events. In the finals Noah had questions involving a U.S. WWII foreign assistance bar graph, a Google satellite image of a lake, and an analogy question to mention a few. Throughout the competition, Noah displayed his great knowledge of geography as he correctly and confidently answered most questions, and in the few instances when his responses were incorrect, they were always geographically close.

Here are a few questions from the competition (answers below):
1) Which state has a lower average elevation - Idaho or Louisiana?

2) What state produces a high yield of blueberries in Washington County - the easternmost county in the U.S.?

3) The Gillette Castle, located in New Haven, is located in what northeastern state?

4) Which country has a higher percentage of people living in urban areas - Austria or Sri Lanka?

5) Which feature of a dam is provided to assist in the migration of fish - ladder or spillway?
This year's state championship clinching question was:

6) Which country is bordered by Croatia and Ukraine?

Answers:
1) Louisiana
2) Maine
3) Connecticut
4) Austria
5) Ladder
6) Hungary