Staff photos/Jane Howard The top 10 finalists in the 2010 Cook County Middle School Geography Bee were (front, L-R) Sean Manahan, Will Seaton, Sean MacDonell, Sara Carman, (middle, L-R) Sammy Deschampe, Lars Scannell, Rusty Day, (back, L-R) Lino Rauzi, Levi Axtell, Joey Chmelik. Zach Sturm would have competed with the other finalists on Friday, January 8, but he had an out-of-town appointment that day and could not be there.
What is the world’s saltiest body of water? What is Africa’s longest river?
Which state, with a panhandle in its north, is a leading producer of potatoes?
Which state is bordered by Lake Erie and Kentucky?
If you know the answers to these questions, that’s great, but they were only the warm-ups for the 2010 Cook County Middle School Geography Bee Friday, January 8, 2010 at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts.
A lot of the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders did really well in the preliminary classroom rounds leading up to the championship, said social studies teacher Dorie Carlson. The top two competitors from each grade made it to the finals along with four students-at-large from any of the middle school grades.
Officials were teacher Dorie Carlson, judge; Superintendent Beth Schwarz, question-reader; and Butch Deschampe, timer.
The final competition was quick, lasting a little over half an hour, whittling the 10 who had made it this far down to three finalists – Sean McDonell, Sammy Deschampe, and Lars Scannell – then two, Sammy and Lars, and, finally, a winner.
Sammy and Lars both got the first two final round questions wrong, so don’t feel bad if you don’t know the answers, either:
1. The Garden Ring, with its eight lanes of traffic, crosses Gorky Park in which European capital city?
2. After the U.S. and France, which island country generates the most power from nuclear energy?
(Answers: 1) Moscow; 2) Japan)
Here’s the last question: Which Mediterranean country located at the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula is Europe’s largest exporter of cotton? The answer? Greece.
Who got it right to win the championship? Lars Scannell.
Congratulations, Lars!
The geography bee competition will end with finalists from around the country meeting in Washington, D.C. Lars would need to be among the top 100 scorers on a test he will take this month in order to make it to the the state competition in April. No Cook County students have ever participated in the geography bee at the state level. Prizes for the top three Cook County competitors, provided by the Grand Marais Lionesses, were a t-shirt for each, $10 for Sammy, and $15 for Lars.
(The answers to the questions at the beginning of this story are: The Dead Sea, the Nile, Idaho, and Ohio.)
How would you do in a geography bee? Here are some of the questions the top 10 finalists had to answer:
»»What national park
located in both
Tennessee and North
Carolina is a popular
tourist spot for camping,
bicycling, fishing, and
other outdoor activities?
»»The city of Cincinnati is
located on a river that
is over 900 miles long.
What is the name of the
river?
»»Which state bordered by
Montana to the north
and South Dakota to
the east was the first to
give women the right to
vote?
»»In 1842 the U.S. and
Canada settled a
property dispute
between New Brunswick
and which state?
»»Beaufort and Charleston
are two important cities
in a region known as
“the low country” in
which state?
»»The Great Lakes’ major
outlet to the sea is what
river?
»»Camp David, a
presidential retreat in
the Catoctin Mountains,
is located in which state
that also borders the
Chesapeake Bay?
»»The Adirondack
Mountains, a southern
extension of the
Laurentian Mountains of
Canada, are located in
which state?
»»The Near Islands,
including Attu and
Agattu, are part of what
larger chain of Alaskan
islands?
Answers:
1) Great Smoky Mountains National Park;
2) Ohio River;
3) Wyoming;
4) Maine;
5) South Carolina;
6) St. Lawrence River;
7) Maryland;
8) New York;
9) Aleutian Islands.
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