On January 12th, lower and middle school students, faculty, and family members joined together in the cafeteria to determine the next Geography Bee school champion. The National Geographic Bee is an annual geography contest sponsored by the National Geographic Society. This contest is open to students in grades 4-8 interested in displaying their amazing geography talents. The winner of the school Bee will move on to take an electronic time test before February 3rd consisting of 70 questions. The top 100 students from this test will advance to the State Bee on March 31st. The National Champion of the Bee is awarded $50,000 and a prize trip.

At 1:45pm, ten nervous students took the stage and sat at their appropriate desk with matching name tag, paper to write on, and map all located inside an envelope. The contestants consisted of Cooper Ams, Micah Boseman, Mary Powell Chestnut, Ellis Daughtridge, Vann Davis, Connor Evans, Wells Hutson, Emory Pittman, Ezra Moore and Jeremy Snipes. The first round of the Bee was oral and had questions about the United States. Each student got 15 seconds to answer the questions. The first student to answer correctly was Ellis Daughtridge, which quickly eased nerves and started a good trend. The second set of questions was on paper, where students were all asked one question and they had to write it down on paper to be shown to the judges. After the end of the round, Micah Boseman and Mary Powell Chestnut were dismissed for answering two incorrect answers each. The third round contained a map of physical features that each student was able to use to help them answer the question. Luckily, every contestant advanced onward. The fourth set of questions was again on paper, where students were all asked one question and they wrote it down. Cooper Ams, Connor Evans and Jeremy Snipes were dismissed at the conclusion of the set. The fifth round was oral and determined the top three finalists. Emory Pittman and Ezra Moore advanced on and a tie breaker round was set into action between Wells Hutson, Ellis Daughtridge and Vann Davis. After ending in a tie once more, there had to be yet another tie breaker round, in which Ellis was awarded third place. The sixth and final round took place between Emory and Ezra. This round was on paper and there would be three questions.  The person who correctly answers the most questions would advance and become the winner. Both students identified the first question, leaving a tight race. Emory managed to correctly answer the second question, starting to develop a lead. The third question left both students stumped but Emory victorious by one question.

All the students should be extremely proud of their accomplishments and for competing. It is no easy task to stand in front of the school and answer hard questions. Congratulations to all the contestants and especially to Emory Pittman, the first place winner, Ezra Moore, the second place winner, and Ellis Daughtridge, the third place winner. Emory was given a medal and a paper certificate of her accomplishment and all the other contestants were also given a paper certificate. Wish Emory luck as she competes in the next round of the Bee prior to February 3rd.