In which city can you find street signs written in Pinyin, the phonetic spelling of the local language using the Roman alphabet? Most Fayette students would know the answer: Beijing.

During the months of November-January, all students in grades four through eight participated in the first phase of the National Geographic Bee. Students took tests in their classrooms to determine who would be represented in the school-level bee. Contestants answered a number of questions on different topics prepared by the National Geographic Society. These included questions about U.S. geography, U.S. cities, the continents, world geography, physical geography and more.

School winners are (elementary) Braelinn, Emily Shull, 5th grade; Brooks, William Gooden, 5th grade; Robert J. Burch, Brooke Ingram, 5th grade; Cleveland, Matthew Andriotty, 5th; Crabapple, Nathan Truex, 5th; East Fayette, Amirah Kahera, 5th; Fayette Intermediate, Kendra Smith, 5th; Huddleston, Richard Bryant, 5th; Kedron, Aaron Sobel, 5th; Sara Harp Minter, Christopher Parker, 5th; North Fayette, Jose Sanabria, 5th; Peachtree City, Emily Gee, 5th; Peeples, Andrew Goorsky, 5th; Spring Hill, Austin Louthan, 5th and Tyrone, Donavan Ivey, 5th. (Middle) J.C. Booth, Tim Morris, 8th; Fayette, Francisco Martinez, 6th; Flat Rock, Charlie Zemko, 8th; Rising Starr, Sam Strawbridge, 8th and Whitewater, Jordan Crawford, 8th.

All school winners took a written test to determine eligibility to participate in the state-level bee in April. Only the top 100 scoring students in Georgia will be invited to participate where they will vie for a chance to advance to the national competition in May in Washington, D.C. and compete for a grand prize $25,000 scholarship.

The National Geographic Bee is a nationwide contest designed to encourage teachers to include geography in their classrooms, spark student interest in the subject and increase public awareness about geography.

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