Rheem Elementary School Geo-Bee winners (L to R): Eric Sweeney, runner-up; Navid Boozapour, 2nd runner-up; and Jacob Westphal, champion. Photo Sheri Sweeney

On Friday, January 8th, Rheem's 3rd through 5th grade students watched an impressive battle of wits and knowledge at the school's third annual National Geographic Bee. Twelve students (7 fifth graders and 5 fourth graders) took part in the final competition: Navid Boozapour, Quinn Cuddihy, Spencer Giglo, Janet Guo, Kate Miles, Olivia Morris, Daniel Nelson, Adam Shafer, Eric Sweeney, Andrew Tseng, Jacob Westphal, and Maria Wong. These students qualified as finalists after being the top scorers in a preliminary written test that was given to all interested 4th and 5th graders in December.

The contest consisted of several rounds of questions, which challenged the finalists' knowledge of U.S. geography, continents, U.S. and world capital cities, and international culture. Part of the competition required finalists to use information on a U.S. map to answer questions about average travel time to work by state.

This year's competition broke all previous records for length and intensity. Although the contest began at 9:00 a.m., an intermission was needed so that the students could enjoy their 10:05 recess before returning to watch the exciting conclusion. After six rounds of questions, Eric Sweeney qualified for the championship round while Navid Boozapour and Jacob Westphal continued to compete for the second slot. After a grueling back-and-forth question and answer session, Jacob earned a place alongside Eric in the championship round. The two finalists competed "Jeopardy style" by writing their answers on small white boards. The contest was finally decided in an impressive tie-breaker round, when Jacob Westphal became the school champion by answering the following question correctly:

Two peaks, Kibo and Mawansi, can be found at the top of what dormant volcano located about 140 miles south of Nairobi? (Answer: Kilimanjaro)

As the school champion, Jacob received a gold medal, a championship certificate, and the thrill of taking yet another test to see if he will be eligible to compete in the State Bee in April. Also, Eric, Navid, and Jacob each received a $5 gift certificate to Powell's Sweet Shoppe in Lafayette, and as a special treat, all three boys will be treated to an all-expense paid trip to Starbucks with Rheem Principal, Ms. Frank.

Anyone can brush up on geography with GeoBee Challenge, an online geography quiz at www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee, which poses 10 new questions a day from previous National Geographic Bees.