Fauquier County Public Schools News Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 7, 2017 Karen Parkinson, Coordinator of Information Phone (540) 422-7031
[email protected] TWO MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS NAMED NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC STATE BEE SEMIFINALISTS Taylor Middle School student Elizabeth Ott and Warrenton Middle School student Josie Hutt have been notified by the National Geographic Society that they are two of 100 semifinalists in the state eligible to compete in the 2017 Virginia National Geographic State Bee. The contest will be held at Longwood University in Farmville on Friday, March 31. This is the second level of the National Geographic Bee competition, now in its 29th year. School Bees were held in schools with fourth- through eighth-grade students throughout the state to determine each school champion. School champions then took a qualifying test, which they submitted to the National Geographic Society. The National Geographic Society has invited 100 of the top-scoring students in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Department of Defense Dependents Schools and U.S. territories to compete in the State Bees. Taylor’s Talented Teen Elizabeth Ott said she was definitely surprised to qualify for the state- level geography bee and was very matter-of-fact about her preparation for competition at the school- and county-levels. “I looked over the book ‘How to Ace the National Geographic Bee,’ and I also checked out a book on the Middle East because we had not studied that region yet this year.” TMS geography teacher Mark Rankins, who coached the Taylor team, including Elizabeth, to a first-place win in the Fauquier County Middle School Geography Tournament on Feb.