PARSIPPANY — Students from Central Middle School participated in the school-level competition of the National Geographic GeoBee on January 23.
Brandon Cukrow an eighth grade student, won first place, and Aditya Vemuri, a seventh grade student, winning second place. The school-level competition is the first round in the annual National Geographic GeoBee, a geography competition designed to inspire and reward students’ curiosity about the world. The Moderator of the Geography Bee at Central Middle School was 8th grade social studies teacher Lara Olarte and the event was organized by 7th grade social studies teachers Lauren Hosonitz and Casey Maass.
Questions cover not only geography, but also cultures, physical features, history and earth science. The National Geographic Society developed the GeoBee in 1989 in response to concern about the lack of geographic knowledge among young people in the United States. Over more than three decades, 120 million students have learned about the world through participation in the GeoBee. School champions, including Brandon Cuckrow will take an online qualifying test; up to 100 of the top test scorers in each state then become eligible to compete in their State GeoBee.
The winners of the State GeoBees receive an all-expenses-paid trip to National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C., next May to participate in the GeoBee national championship, competing for cash prizes, scholarships and an all-expenses-paid Lindblad expedition to the Galápagos Islands aboard the National Geographic Endeavour ll.
