I watched from the third row as the judges called up several names to spell a word. After the practice round, things got intimidating. I was fairly nervous as intelligent pupils of mine were called to spell. Many did it with confidence. Others, I understood, were nervous. In competitions, I have learned, the best perform with confidence, and it was those who successfully made it to the next round. I may not have won the school spelling bee, but those who placed truly deserved it. I think we all are proud of those who did, and we should take the time to congratulate them for their participation.

In third place we have Daniell Bodza in seventh grade. Again in seventh grade, second place goes to Noelle Gospindoff. Finally, the top school speller is Cory Hitt.

Congratulations to all the bright students whom participated in this year’s Spelling Bee!

]]> http://www.themiddlepages.com/top-stories/2012/05/01/little-italy/feed/ 0 http://www.themiddlepages.com/arts-entertainment/2012/05/01/the-geobee/ http://www.themiddlepages.com/arts-entertainment/2012/05/01/the-geobee/#comments Wed, 02 May 2012 03:15:02 +0000 prillal http://www.themiddlepages.com/?p=2407 Every year thousands of students participate in the National Geographic Bee. This competition, much like a spelling bee, tests their knowledge of geography, both national and worldwide. Roughly one hundred of these students make it to a higher level of competition in each U.S. state and territory, but only one takes home the title of champion in the end at the national level. The top ten in the country have the opportunity to be moderated by Alex Trebek, the host of the hit game show “Jeopardy!”
Students first start off the school round by taking a test, something that all students take part in. The next couple of steps vary depending on which school you visit. In the end though, representatives from every class or in our case team, head to the school competition. Here, though, it does not change. Students compete in a competition based on oral and written responses. This goes on until there is a school winner. The school winner then carries on, and once again, takes another test to see if s/he qualifies for state. Only the top one hundred carry onto state. These students then, once again, compete against other students using oral and written responses until one student becomes the state champion. S/he is then sent to nationals, which are held in Washington D.C.! The top ten students from D.C. then compete against each other while being moderated by the one and only Alex Trebek. Just being a part of this competition is already an achievement though, especially since there is only one winner out of many.
The GeoBee began back in the really late eighties to show that Americans were not that ignorant when it comes to geography. What brought this about was a poll that National Geographic sponsored, which both students and adults did extremely poorly on. One thing led to another, and in the end National Geographic sponsored the National Geography Bee. They have even released a few books that will are helpful tools for students to study from.
The questions in the Bee range from being able to understand basic geography: latitude and longitude, relative and absolute location, and land features, to understanding more in depth information.  For the most part, there are little hints in the question that subtly help give the answer. The information needed to successfully answer these questions, though, goes way beyond the classroom simply because there is just so much information! Geography literally is the study of the Earth. This includes everything about the land, and the people on it, which means that there is a lot wider range of information that the competitor has to know. Questions have been asked about events in world history, current events, the makeup of the economy, religion, languages, various cultures, and the list goes on and on! You have no idea about what is coming your way, and with anything that’s like a game show, the question you get is the luck of the draw. So many times a competitor will know everybody else’s question, until they hear their own. This makes it really hard to study. From experience, I would say to pay attention in social studies! Most of the questions that I answered correctly, I had either formally studied or briefly discussed in a past class. The only hard core studying that would most definitely help would be to become aware of countries, their locations, and their capitals. A good memory doesn’t hurt though, either.
I had the wonderful opportunity this past March to compete in the Wisconsin state competition, which was held in the capitol city in a massive State Farm Insurance building. We almost got lost trying to find the parking lot on the property. Once I walked into the elegant yet modern entry hall I discovered that they had somehow gotten a hold of an outsized map of Asia, which was more than three people long. Most of the other competitors already had on their nametags, and were sliding around across the map with no shoes, and in their best dress. We were then ushered into the slightly too small auditorium so we could receive instructions and an inspirational speech. It was there that I found out that out 100 people, only 11 were girls. After about forty-five minutes, the entire group was separated into separate rooms with about 20 competitors in each. Everyone was only asked eight questions, a warm-up compared to the amount we had been asked previously. Several kids scored perfects, and because there were more than ten, they were moved into the tie-breaker rounds. Finally, the top ten were decided. Everyone took a little fifteen minute break, the competitors each got a cookie and a juice box, and people started settling into their chairs in the auditorium to watch the final round. In the end Vansh Jain, a student from Minocqua, won first place and is representing Wisconsin in the nation’s capital. Let’s all cheer him on and wish him luck!
I would definitely encourage all the kids at CFMS to try their absolute hardest next year, because it could very well be YOU representing our school and doing us proud next year, and in the years to come.

jumps out of the water. Trees hang over the lake like

they want to swim in its cool waters. One tried, now lying on the sand.

A lawn chair for turtles. Looking at the water makes you want to

sink down under and watch the shimmer of the sun slowly fade

away and take a wonderful nap. I watch as cranes call to each

other letting, out a mournful cry. Then one graceful swoop and they’re

gone soaring through the air in an endless sky. A fish swims

quietly underneath lily pads and sea weed. Then the fish slows

down, more cautious, more careful looking up at the

shiny patches of sunlight he sees something splash!

An enormous crane lifts his head

And swallows him whole.

*The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

*1 in 4 people in America have been on television.

*You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching TV.

* Coca-Cola translated to Chinese means, “To make mouth happy”.

*The average person has 100,000 hairs on his/her head. Each hair grows about 5 inches (12.7 cm) every year.

*There are 1 million ants for every person in the world.

*A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.

* An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.

*”Go,” is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

*About 17% of humans are left-handed. The same is true of chimpanzees and gorillas.

*Hummingbirds can’t walk.

*Most elephants weigh less than the tongue of a blue whale.

*Pearls melt in vinegar.

*In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.

*When you die your hair still grows for a couple of months.

*The most money ever paid for a cow in an auction was $1.3 million.

*The sound of E.T. walking was made by someone squishing her hands in jelly.

*The average person spends about 2 years on the phone in a lifetime.

*In ancient Rome, it was considered a sign of leadership to be born with a crooked nose.

*Children grow faster in the springtime.

*In Illinois, it is forbidden to fish while sitting on a giraffe’s neck

*It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

*The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.

*When you sneeze, all your bodily functions stop even your heart.

*Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

*A cockroach can live 9 days without its head before it starves to death.

*Some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they can’t find any food.

*The first word spoken on the moon was Okay.

*The average human eats 8 spiders in their lifetime at night.

*The average woman consumes 6 pounds of lipstick in her lifetime.

*The word lithological describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.

*You share your birthday with at least 9 million other people in the world.

I hope you learned something!

Facts inspired by:

http://www.randomfunfacts.com/

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bingbin/