THMS 2011 Geography Bee participants(back row, l-r) Philip Gosselin,Jesse Fortin, Rion Thomas, Olivia Kelley, David Fors, Jacob Eckstein; (front row), Joseph Rayer, Brendan Tobin, Nicholas Cappucci, Timothy Hoover, Jordan Barrett,  Celia Wilkins. 

Story and photos by  Kristen Levine

There was a lot of excited tension in the Turkey Hill Middle School cafeteria as the twelve contestants for this year’s National Geographic Geography Bee took their seats on the main stage.

    Heidi Champagne, who teaches Language Arts and Geography, and Dean of Students Chad Adams, were the MCs for the event.

    A 45-minute long event, the Bee’s school round is designed as a process-of-elimination to find the student with the most accurate knowledge of national and global geography. Some of the questions had adults scratching their heads in confusion, but were quickly snapped up by clever students.

    Arranged over three basic rounds and a championship round, the questions were a mixed bag of complex trivia. The most challenging round called for students to identify locations on a map of the United States using vague directions and latitude/longitude coordinates.

    Contestant Brendan Tobin, 13, received a question that puzzled the MCs.

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