Geography Bee at Palmer Junior Middle School showcases student talent

PALMER— Out of 30 participating students at Palmer Junior Middle School, sixth grader Samuel Pack took first place at his first Geography Bee on Dec. 14 in the school cafeteria.

“I was just excited and a couple times nervous,” Pack said.

Linda Jo Klapperich has been running the Geography Bee at PJMS for at least 15 years. She said that she also runs the Spelling Bee and talent show each year.

“The main reason was to showcase students and their abilities,” Klapperich said.

Klapperich will accompany Pack when he goes to the state finals on March 29, 2019, in Anchorage. She said there are three levels of competition: school, state and national. TheNational Geographic Society sponsors PJMS along with more than 10,000 schools across the country to compete on the national level.

The program is designed to increase student’s knowledge of the world while having fun, according to an informational sheet provided by Klapperich. Students who advance to state and national levels can even win a $50,000 scholarship, “plus a prize trip,” according to the sheet.

Klapperich said that each classroom at PJMS had preliminary rounds in their classrooms and Friday served as the set of final rounds for those who qualified. The 30 students in the final rounds had their peers as an audience and some students like Pack had his family there for moral support.

“It’s just amazing the kids are so excited about participating,” Klapperich said. “They answered some very difficult questions. They seemed very well prepared.”

Pack said that he invested about 12 hours of preparation for this competition. He said that he used his tablet to study and spent about three hours preparing the night before.

Klapperich asked students prepared questions to test their geographic knowledge, asking them to connect certain features like a river or sea to a specific place. Klapperich said to make it fair, she had the last two students write down their answers.

The last question quizzed them on the northern most lake of the Great Lakes system. The answer was Lake Superior. Pack said he was thankful because that was the only lake of the system he could remember.

“I think I deserve a day off,” Pack said to his family as they circled around him after the competition.

He didn’t mean a day off of school. He is currently grounded and wanted to knock a day off his punishment. His grandmother, Ginger Pack laughed and said, “It doesn’t hurt to try right?”

Klapperich noted that she wanted this experience to make the students feel good about themselves regardless of where they placed. That’s why she handed out participation certificates for each student and each age group had top three ribbons. Both first and second place received a trophy.

“It’s so important to give students an opportunity to shine,” Klapperich said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com