CASTLETON — Several Addison County students are expected to compete today, April 1, in the 2016 Vermont National Geographic State Bee, which will be held at Castleton State University.
This is the second level of the National Geographic Bee competition, which is now in its 28th year. School Bees were held in schools with fourth- through eighth-grade students throughout the state to determine each school champion. School champions then took an online qualifying test. The National Geographic Society has invited up to 100 of the top-scoring students in each of the 50 states, District of Columbia, Department of Defense Dependents Schools and U.S. territories to compete in the state Bees.
The local youths who qualified to compete in the state bee are:
• Colby Hammond, a seventh-grader at Middlebury Union Middle School.
• Cyrus Hall, an eight-grader at Mount Abraham Union High School.
• Anya Hardy-Mittell, a sixth-grader at Mary Hogan School in Middlebury.
• Sarah Calvin, a seventh-grader at Otter Valley Union High School in Brandon.
• Aidan Harris, a fifth-grader at Robinson Elementary School in Starksboro.
• Elise Heppell, a fifth-grader at Ripton Elementary School.
• Bradley Kutchukian, a sixth-grader at Vergennes Union Elem School.
• Keenan Hogan, a sixth-grader at Neshobe Elementary School in Brandon.
• Nathan Bingham, a fifth-grader at Weybridge Elementary School.
• Thomas Denton, a sixth-grader at Bingham Memorial Elementary School in Cornwall.
Each state champion will receive $100, the National Geographic book “The National Parks: An Illustrated History” and a medal, and will journey to Washington, D.C., to represent their state in the National Geographic Bee Championship at National Geographic Society headquarters, May 22-25.
The national champion will receive a $50,000 college scholarship and lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society. The national champion will also travel (along with one parent or guardian), all expenses paid, on a Lindblad expedition to Southeast Alaska aboard National Geographic Sea Lion, including Glacier Bay National Park, in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.
Visit www.natgeobee.org for more information on the National Geographic Bee.