FARMINGTON —The University of Maine Farmington campus was abuzz with excitement Friday, March 29 as fourth through eighth grade students from across the state took part in the Maine National Geographic GeoBee.

Qualifying for the state competition began with competitions in registered schools. Each school champion then took a proctored online qualifying test. The top 100 ranked students from each state took part in competitions across the country Friday at state level GeoBees.

Among the 100 scholars who qualified for the Maine competition were Regional School Unit 9 students Evelyn Stadelman of Academy Hill School, Julian Reynolds of Cascade Brook School and Meren Zeliger of Mt. Blue Middle School. Carter Chase of Kingfield Elementary School represented Maine School Administrative District 58 and Jonah Moore represented Spruce Mountain Middle School in Regional School Unit 73.

At UMF students were divided into groups of 20 for the preliminary round. Each student was asked 8 questions which covered knowledge of world geography, earth systems and locations of recent news.

Chase correctly identified Lake Pontchartrain as being located in Louisiana. Stadelman knew large hailstones occur more frequently in cumulonimbus clouds. When given a choice between Zambia, Niger and Belgium, Reynolds knew Belgium was the only country that was not landlocked.

The local students fared well in their preliminary rounds but none qualified to move on to the final round of the competition.

The final round were Rogers Crowley of North Yarmouth Academy, Yarmouth; Cody Donovan of Saco Middle School, Saco; Arsh Agnihotri of Falmouth Middle School, Falmouth; Jacob LeBrun of Massabesic Middle School, East Waterboro; Eamon McGlashan of Kennebunk Middle School, Kennebunk; Benjamin Allison of Kennebunk Middle School, Gorham; Greta Ahlefeld of Mt. View Middle School, Thorndike; Rohan Joseph of Troy A Howard Middle School, Belfast; Myles Seckler of Shapleigh School, Kittery; and Charles Howe of King Middle School, Portland.

After 12 rounds of questions, LeBrun was named the Maine National Geographic GeoBee Champion. He earned a $1,000 cash prize and a trip to Washington, D.C. to compete in the National Championship which will take place May 19 through 22.

The national champion will receive a $25,000 college scholarship, $1,000 in cash, a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society, and a trip to the Galápagos Islands.

For more information, visit www.nationalgeographic.org.

dmenear@thefranklinjournal.com

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