It is bee season at Martin Meylin Middle School. The 20th annual geography bee was held on Jan. 15, and the spelling bee took place on Jan. 22.
Sixth-grader Carlos Berrios beat out sixth-grader Alex Sutherland, who earned second place, and eighth-grader Peter Mecouch, who came in third place, in the final round of the geography bee. Peter won the Martin Meylin bee last year and was in the top 100 geography students in Pennsylvania based on a written exam that determined who advanced to the state bee. He missed competing in the state final by one question. The winner of the state bee advances to the National Geographic GeoBee held in Washington, D.C., in May. Co-organizer Chuck Lambert, a sixth-grade social studies teacher, noted that Peter has the distinction of being the highest-scoring student in his grade in each of the three years he competed in the school bee.
Carlos enjoys playing the map quiz game Seterra and the list-based trivia game Sporcle, both accessed via the internet, and he credited the games for his success in the geography bee. He plans to continue playing Seterra and Sporcle to prepare for the state exam. "I'm 100% excited and 100% nervous," he said about the upcoming competition.
During the Jan. 15 bee, 18 students were asked questions about the world, its people, and its features. Several times, Carlos asked for the spelling of names read during the questions by sixth-grade social studies teacher Kosta Bournelis. When asked if he planned to compete in the spelling bee, Carlos replied, "I opted not to compete in the spelling bee. I can spell countries," and proceeded to breeze through "Azerbaijan."
It took all of five rounds to determine the winner of the school spelling bee on Jan. 22. The top three spellers from each of the English and language arts teachers participated in the bee, for a total of 27. The first round took out 10 contestants, with another eight falling in the second round. Eighth-grader Elisabeth Reinhart won the bee by correctly spelling "insignia" and following it up with "rudiments."
After Elisabeth was recognized as the winner, sixth-grader Bethwel Kemoi placed second and seventh-grader Noelle Hess claimed third. Then, six students faced off in a tie for fourth. "(It) quickly became a tie-breaker between Owen Dean and Truman Horst," said L-S community relations coordinator Anne Harnish.
Ultimately, Owen pulled ahead and, with Elisabeth, Bethwel, and Noelle, will be among the finalists of district bees from across Lancaster County who will take a 100-word written spelling test on Wednesday, Feb. 19. The top test-takers will be announced on Monday, Feb. 24, and those students will move on to compete in the 62nd LNP/LancasterOnline Spelling Bee on Friday, March 13. The bee champion will advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which will take place the week of Memorial Day, from Sunday, May 24, through Friday, May 29, at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Md.
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