Berkshire Country Day School's National Geographic GeoBee

Local Students Compete in First Round of National Competition

STOCKBRIDGE/LENOX, MA (01/29/2020) (readMedia)-- Students from Berkshire Country Day School's Grades 4-8 participated in the school competition of the National Geographic GeoBee on Wednesday, January 22. Bronly Boyd, a seventh grader from West Stockbridge, won first place. Additional finalists included fifth graders Ben Glockner and Sam Glockner (Pittsfield, MA), and Oliver Newman (Ghent, NY), and sixth graders Ethan Katz (Great Barrington, MA) and Aiden Tran (Pittsfield, MA). BCD history and English teacher Dr. Jilly Lederman serves as BCD's National Geographic GeoBee coordinator.

The school competition is the first round in the annual National Geographic GeoBee, a geography competition designed to inspire and reward students' curiosity about the world. Questions cover not only geography, but also ancient and world civilizations, cultures, and physical features. The National Geographic Society developed the GeoBee in 1989 in response to concern about the lack of geographic knowledge among young people in the United States. Over more than three decades, more than 120 million students have learned about the world through participation in the GeoBee.

Individual school champions from across the nation, including Bronly, will take an online qualifying test; up to 100 of the top test scorers in each state then become eligible to compete in their State GeoBee. The winners of the State GeoBees receive an all-expenses-paid trip to participate in the GeoBee national championship in Spring 2020. Students will be competing for cash prizes, scholarships and an all-expenses-paid Lindblad expedition to the Galápagos Islands aboard the National Geographic Endeavour ll. Learn more at www.natgeobee.org. In addition to the GeoBee, National Geographic also offers classroom resources, student experiences, and professional development opportunities for educators.

About Berkshire Country Day School: Now in its 74th year, Berkshire Country Day School is a two-year-old through Grade 8 independent school voted "Best Private School in the Berkshires" for the past three consecutive years through an extensive poll by The Berkshire Eagle. The School's new Fair Share Tuition program provides increased access for families of all income levels so that more children than ever can benefit from the school's academic excellence delivered through a creative curriculum. Students hail from 24 communities in both Berkshire and Columbia Counties, and bus service, including routes serving Pittsfield, Great Barrington, Chatham, NY, and the Hudson, NY, area, offer convenient transportation to serve a growing population. Berkshire Country Day School exists to inspire the individual promise of every student, that each may become an exemplary citizen of the world. For more information about the school, visit berkshirecountryday.org.