Local students in first round of national competition

Newton - Three-hundred students from Kittatinny Regional High School participated in the school-level competition of the National Geographic GeoBee on Jan. 15, 2019. Winners were; Devan Demmerle, 8th grade, won first place. Ariana Begraft, an 8th grader, won second place, and Jacob Grubb, a 7th grader, finishedin third 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. 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 Devan Demmerle, 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 the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C., in May to participate in the GeoBee national championship, competing for cash prizes, scholarships and an all-expense-paid Lindblad expedition to the Galápagos Islands aboard the National Geographic Endeavor II. Learn more at www.natgeobee.org.
In addition to the GeoBee, national Geographic also offers classroom resources, student experiences and professional development opportunities for educators.
Congratulations to our three winners! Best of luck to Devan as she moves onto the second round of the competition.