The Buzz on the Geo Bee:

JFK Middle School competes in National Geographic's Annual Geography Bee

Students at Bethpage's JFK Middle School are proudly participating in this year's National Geographic-sponsored Geography Bee. Open to any school district in the nation, the annual competition challenges students on their knowledge of world geography and global studies.

All JFK students participated in the Geography Bee's preliminary classroom competition. A classroom winner is selected after completing numerous rounds of questions. Each classroom winner from grades 6-8 continued on to the school-wide portion of the competition. Winner Ian Beck and runner-up Constonstantine Andreadis are seventh grade students of Ms Andrea Mastellone. “The seventh graders had a strong showing this year and dominated the competition,“ remarked Director of Social Studies and Libraries Kevin Fullerton. “ Ian won his class competition last year and participated in the school-wide Bee last year as a sixth grader. Each year I am more and more impressed with all of the students' knowledge of geography. The Geography Bee helps to raise the students' awareness and interest in geography.”

Ian will continue participating in the competition by taking a 70-question written test to further demonstrate his understanding of world geography and global studies. In early March, he will find out if he qualified for the state level of competition by scoring amongst the top 100 students in New York State . The state competition is held on April 4, 2008. The JFK Middle School is proud of Ian and wishes him luck in proceeding in the National Geographic 2008 Geography Bee.