Geneva eighth-grade student Charlie Dees (left) was declared the 2019 champion of Geneva’s annual National Geographic Geography Bee for the second straight year. Seventh-grader Andrew Viot (center) was runner-up and A.J. Dube, eighth grade, finished in third place. These students finished in this exact order in this competition for the second year in a row.
Dees awaits his results on the state qualifying exam. The top 100 scores from school winners in Texas will compete at the State Geography Bee.
Geography Bee preliminaries were held for each grade level and the students in the top 10 competed in the Geography Bee finals. Additional finalists were Sloane Burkholder, Cammy Curtis, Parker Davenport, Claire Graham, Mia Hans, Alex Havranek and Rachel Troyer. This annual competition was directed by Geneva geography teacher Stephanie Wilson.
“Every person should have knowledge of the larger world around them. When we hear of things that are happening in other countries, we can place them in our minds and are better able to understand the things we hear and read,” Stephanie Wilson said about why Geneva holds this competition each year.