Willow Elementary geography bee champ crowned

The world became a smaller place 100 years ago when Orville and Wilbur Wright lifted off a North Carolina beach. Technology has continued to improve communications and today there is no corner of the world that is not accessible by phone or Internet. Our global closeness makes Social Studies more relevant than ever. Offering students a broad source of materials from which they can build a framework to view the world helps to develop a sense of appreciation for culture and tolerance for the diversity that our world has fostered.

This critical area of scholarship has found support in the National Geographic Bee held each school year since 1989. Students from around the United States are selected to represent their schools and possibly their state in the National Bee held each summer in Washington, D.C.

Willow Elementary held its Geo-Bee Dec. 18 and out of nine preliminary winners, a new champion has won the opportunity to represent our school. Kayla Maloney captured third place, Kevin Aronowity took second and Joseph Warner will be Willow's hope for winning the state competition. McKenna Slivensky, Darrell Culbertson, Jason Lee, Ethan Delaney, Megan Stahl and Allen Andrews rounded out the field in Willow's Geographic Bee, having passed the preliminary rounds in their classrooms.

Lions International is a service organization working in neighborhoods and communities across the world. It is fitting that this global organization represented by the Willow Lions Club sponsored the Geographic Bee and Geography Week at their local school. The International Association of Lions Clubs began as the dream of a Chicago insurance man Melvin Jones, who wondered why local business clubs could not expand their horizons from purely business concerns to the betterment of their communities and the world at large. His vision was surely embodied by the Willow Lions whose partnership with Willow Elementary School has led to other successful projects such as Family Skate Night and photo screening to help identify eye disease.