Darien's John Phipps makes it a hat trick at MMS with third Geography Bee win

Eighth grader John Phipps made it a clean sweep last month, earning the title of school champion for the National Geographic Bee at Middlesex Middle School (MMS) for the third year in a row.

Phipps, who was a state-wide winner in 2014, is waiting to hear if he qualifies  for the state round. He recently completed the qualifying test and should hear by March 4, 2016. If he qualifies,  Phipps will attend the state event in April.

The MMS Bee was the first round in the 28th annual National Geographic Bee.  Seventh grader Alex DelVecchio was the runner-up, and sixth grader Brandon Liu was the third place winner.  Other contestants were Skyler Bennett, Anna Burgess, Grace Hand, Sean Huffert, Riya Krishnan, Maya Nalawade and Jack Roberson.

Thousands of schools around the United States and in the five U.S. territories participate in the Bee. Darien has had 8 state winners to date, the most of any town in Connecticut.

MMS Library staff member Barbara Ivey has worked daily with Phipps after school to help him prepare for competition. They look at "hot spots" around the world, and read maps and information on each country and region of the world. They also read old GeoBee questions like:

1. The Bab el Mandeb, a strait between the Arabian Peninsula and mainland Africa, connects the Gulf of Aden and to what body of water?

2.  Mouunt Kosciuszko, located in the Snowy Mountains, is the highest peak on which continent?

3.  The Donets Basin is an industrial area shared with Russia and which neighboring country to the west?

The answers are (1)  The Red Sea. (2) Australia. (3) Ukraine.

Additionally, National Geographic puts up on their GeoBee website 10 questions per day as well as a "Daily News" bulletin.

If Phipps qualifies for the statewide competition, it will be held on April 1 at Central State University, New Britain, moving him one step closer to possibly earning a $50,000 college scholarship.

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Submitted by Darien, CT

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