PVS students compete in the annual Geography Bee

Pleasant View School students competed in the annual school-wide Geography Bee on Tuesday, Jan. 21 with three winners at the end.

Earlier in the year, in-class competitions were held and students placing in the top three spots from grades sixth, seventh and eighth competed in the school-wide competition.

“What I hope students get out of participating: increased love and motivation to learn about geography,” said social studies teacher Nisreen Malley.

The Bee consists of seven rounds of questions. Students have 15 minutes to respond to questions asked orally. Students had the opportunity to ask a question to be repeated twice throughout the entire competition.

Round one was "State Savvy" where students were asked questions about the United States. Round two was "State Nicknames" where students were asked to identify U.S. states by their nicknames, both official and unofficial.

Round three was "Weird But True" where students identified facts about the world taken from the popular National Geographic book series called “Weird But True!” Students answered a geographic question related to an unusual fact.

Round four was called "Last Wild Places" where students understand more about the protected and unprotected wild places in the United States. Round five was "Odd One Out" where students were asked about countries around the world. They were given a choice of three answers, and had to choose the answer that did not belong.

Round six was "World Civilizations" where students were tested for knowledge of the contributions different civilizations have made to society. Students were given a choice of two answers.

Round seven was "Cities of the World" which tested students’ knowledge of major cities in countries around the world. Students were asked to name a country and did not receive a choice of answers.

After seven rounds, results were tallied and the students who answered the most correctly advanced to the next stage. A tie-breaker round determined the top-placing winner.

The competition was judged by Mailey and social studies teacher Andre Clark. The top three winners were Ibrahim Boudaoud, Massa Almoazen and Yasmeen Mannan. The top place winner will go on to represent the school at the next competition at the state level.

“Students enjoy participating tremendously - it makes the learning process more enjoyable and engaging for the students,” Mailey said.