Sarah Kimitsuka, a seventh-grade student at Meadow Glade Adventist Elementary School (MGAES) in Battle Ground, Wash., won the school competition of the National Geographic Bee on Jan. 20, 2017, and advanced to the state competition, which was held on March 31.
The National Geographic Bee is open to students across the nation in grades four through eight. At MGAES, all eligible students participated in a grade-level competition. From that competition, the top two scores at each grade level participated in the school bee.
The competitors at MGAES included fourth- graders Avery Beem and Logan Pierce, fifth-graders McKinley Ermshar and Iann Lasher, sixth-graders Zach Fish and Daniel Kimitsuka, seventh-graders Sarah Kimitsuka and Noah Schmalenberger, and eighth-graders Bryce Cassagneres and Abby Sauser. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and community members attended the bee at MGAES to cheer on the contestants.
Following the school competition, the school champions, including Sarah Kimitsuka, took a written test. Up to 100 of the top scorers on that test in each state were then eligible to compete in their state bee. Thousands of students around the United States and in the U.S. territories attended their 2017 state bees this spring. Those who won were then eligible to advance to the national level bee held in May in Washington, D.C.
Sarah Kimitsuka won the school competition of the National Geographic Bee and advanced to the state competition.
