John Jay Middle School’s entire student body held its breath as the two finalists in the school’s Geography Bee revealed their final answers in a tie-breaking round on Jan. 21.
Applause and cheers broke out as teacher Barbara Kessler announced eighth-grader Matthew Collins as the winner of the bee after several grueling rounds and difficult questions about national and global geography.
Collins, who is passionate about geography, was congratulated by his classmates as he was able to breathe a sigh of relief. For the second consecutive year, he had qualified for the school bee by placing in the top 10 of seventh- and eighth-grade students on a preliminary exam. Last year, he placed second in the bee.
“Every day, I set aside an hour to study some sort of map,” he said of his preparation.
Seventh-grader Ryan Kaplan and eighth-grader McQuaid Shin rounded out the top three. Collins will soon take an online qualifying test to determine whether he will continue in the National Geographic-sponsored bee, which includes competitions at the state and national levels.
Assistant Principal Lisa Kor congratulated all of the bee’s participants on their achievement.
“To be chosen out of 500 students to come up here and do this is amazing,” she said.