South Side Middle School students participate in the Geography Bee

On Jan. 6, all South Side Middle School students participated in the National Geographic Geography Bee in their social studies classes. During the competition, students answered challenging questions about U.S. geography, geographic comparisons, physical geography, continents, world geography and cultural geography. Each 6th, 7th and 8th grade class produced a class champion who then competed after school in the semi-finals, finals and championship round on Jan. 8.

Eighth grader Sean Micalizzi, and sixth grader Robert Reis made it to the championship round. At the conclusion, Micalizzi took the title of School-Wide Champion. He will take a written exam to qualify as one of 100 students in the state level Geo Bee. If he does well, he can move on to the national level Geo Bee, moderated by journalist Soledad O’Brien, in Washington D.C., where the winner will receive a $50,000 college scholarship, lifelong membership in the National Geographic Society and a trip to the Galapagos Islands.