Where in the world? Parker is geography bee winner

By KATIE DAHLSTROM -
kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com

DeKALB – He’s never been out of the country, but ask 14-year-old Charlie Parker a question about the world, and there’s a good chance he’ll know the answer.

Parker, an eighth-grader, won the first Clinton Rosette Middle School Geography Bee during an eight-round competition that tested students’ worldly knowledge.

Parker won by one point, answering a question in the final round to beat out fellow eighth-grader Megan LeBlanc. He can’t disclose any of the questions that earned him the title of geography bee champion or he’ll be disqualified from the written test that could send him to the National Geographic Geobee.

“I got asked about my heritage,” Parker said. “And one about a city that I happened to remember at the last minute where it was at. And this river goes through this state, stuff like that.”

Five students competed in the bee, held Monday night at the school, although 10 qualified by answering seven out of seven questions correctly in a test given in their social studies classes.

During the bee, the moderator asked each student a question. The student had 15 seconds to answer the question. If he or she got it right, the moderator moved to the next student. Answering two questions incorrectly got the student eliminated from the competition.

In the final round, the two remaining students were asked three questions and wrote their answers on whiteboards, similar to the final round of Jeopardy.

Parker said learning he had won stumped him more than any of the questions.

“I was shocked kind of,” Parker said. “I didn’t realize what the judge meant. She looked at me after the answer and said, ‘That’s correct, congratulations.’ ”

The school held the geography bee for the first time this year after sixth-grade language arts teacher Amie Livengood suggested it. Livengood, who has been a teacher in District 428 for three years, used to coordinate the bee in Somonauk School District 432.

“It helps create that culture that knowing the world around you is important and that we value that as a school,” Livengood said. “We celebrate kids who want to learn more about the world around them.”

Next, Parker will take a written test, which is an hour long. Livengood has to submit the score to National Geographic by Feb. 6. The top 100 students from fifth through eighth grade in each state qualify to move on to the state bee; the top 54 from all the state competitions will compete at the National Geographic Bee in Washington, D.C.

Parker doesn’t know how he’ll perform on the written test, although he hopes the questions don’t venture too far from home.

“Anything in the United States is better than world for me,” Parker said.