Kestrel Pollock was on fire. As the questions came the answers flowed easily, but he astounded even his fellow competitors when—with few geographical clues—he named Beijing as the city the moderator was looking for.
“No one could believe it when he got that question right,” said Cook County Social Studies teacher Mitch Dorr.
Kestrel placed first in the Cook County Middle School Geography Bee on Tuesday, December 22. Abby Stoddard finished second and Adam Dorr finished third.
Because the competition is held statewide and nationally and scholarships are on the line, the questions asked in the competitions can’t be reprinted, but here is one practice question. Pretend you are a competitor. No cell phones/lap tops/ computers allowed.
“Which U.S. city with a 4-letter name lies 75 miles from the nearest tree?”
You have 12 seconds. Time’s up, answer please.
No? Me neither. Take the first and second words of this sentence and put them together for the answer.
While that query was tough it wasn’t any harder than the questions asked to 11 Cook County Middle School students who participated in the Geography Bee held in the Arrowhead Center for the Arts auditorium.
Caleb Benedix was the lone sixth grader going up against three seventh grade students, Ryan Bilben, Adrian Howard-Larsen and Abigail Stoddard, and seven eighth grade students, Paige Everson, Kestrel Pollock, Adam Dorr, Ian Parker, Emma Gesch, Halle Lamb and Trent Spry for the right to represent Cook County Middle School at the state Geography Bee.
The kids who participated in the Geography Bee were selected based on a geography test given to their respective classes.
Pollock will now take a state-qualifying test in early January to see if he will advance to the State Geography Bee. The winner of the state bee will go to nationals.
Last year’s winner, New Jersey’s Karan Menon, age 14, won a $50,000 college scholarship, but almost lost on a question that hits close to home. Menon was asked to name the mineral-rich deposit found on the Mesabi (Iron) Range. Menon answered taconite but the moderator Soledad O’Brien wanted iron ore. Menon argued his point and the judges agreed with him.
Good luck Kestrel!
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