Josh Gamble, first place.

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by David Southworth

Over 400 Shelburne Community School (SCS) students in grades 4-8 participated in this year's classroom rounds of the National Geography Bee competition. This year, the following five students scored a perfect seven out of seven points in the classroom round and earned a "bye" into the finals: Weller Henderson, Henry Mohn, Lila Ottinger, Andrew Pitcher, and Emily Ray.

Also, 25 students scored six points and competed for five rounds in a tiebreaker to determine the remaining five finalists.

Congratulations to this year's winner, 6th grader Josh Gamble. Josh, the son of Marc and Becky Gamble, has taken a 70 question multiple-choice test in the hopes of qualifying for the state level of competition scheduled for March 30. Josh outscored second place winner, Alex Merrill, in a 4-round championship competition. Elyse Killkelley earned third place.

Special recognition is in order for fifth graders Connor Rushford and Mark Tuhacek who advanced to the school tiebreaker round.

Also, a couple of historical notes: Josh's older brother Noah was the SCS champion in 2009 and 2010. It's the second time that siblings have been SCS winners (Peter Rust 1990 and Alex in 1995). Also, Josh represents only the third time in over 20 years that a 6th grader has won the SCS championship (Megan Leopold 1989; Rob Finn 1999).

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 simultaneous questions, interpretation of a "U.S Population Change" map and individual oral answers. 

Students advanced to the following levels: 

Qualified for the tiebreaker round:  Zach Richardson

Tiebreaker Round 1:  students remained tied

Tiebreaker Round 2: Trevor Kingston, Marley Olson, Jacob Abel-Palmer, Connor Rushford

Tiebreaker Round 3:   Theodore Wager, Anne Keen, Isabel Colquhoun, Jennifer Ireland, Kim Jonah, Mark Tuhacek, Eliza Joczik, Izzy Schmitt, Delaney Brunvand

Tiebreaker Round 4: Hugh Sheahan, Caroline Hern, Nolan Jimmo, Olivia Machanic, Caroline Averill

Tiebreaker Round 5:  Harrison Thayer

Finals Round 1:  Students remained tied

Finals Round 2:  Lila Ottinger (7th place)

Finals Round 3:  Andrew Pitcher (6th place)

Finals Round 4:  Students remained tied

Finals Round 5:  Elijah Mintz-Roberts, Weller Henderson (5th place)

Finals Round 6:  Emily Ray, Samantha Provost, Henry Mohn (4th place)

Finals Round 7:  Elyse Killkelley (Third Place)

Second Place: SCS runner-up from the Championship Round - Alex Merrill

First Place: SCS Champion - Josh Gamble

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.

And now, here is an annual test of Shelburne News readers' geography knowledge using questions from the classroom, tiebreaker, finals, championship, and championship tiebreaker rounds respectfully:

"The game of chess is a popular pastime in the city of Beersheba, located in the Negev Desert in which Southwest Asian country?"

"Ernest Shackleton was a famous explorer of which continent?"

"Mesa Verde National Park, known for its ancient cliff dwellings, lies west of Durango in which state?"

"Timbuktu, a center of caravan trade for almost a thousand years, is located north of the Niger River in which landlocked country?"

"Cologne Cathedral, the largest Gothic church in northern Europe, is located in the Rhineland region of which country?"

Answers:

 Israel

Antarctica

Colorado

Mali

Germany