WORLAND – Which state has a longer coastline, Maine or Rhode Island? Do you know the answer?
This is just a sample question that sixth through eighth graders from Worland Middle School were asked on Friday, Jan. 10, as part of the school competition for the National Geographic Geobee.
The winner of the competition was sixth-grader Ethan Miller, with the runner-up being eighth-grader Jackson Richard. The deciding round came down to a final second tie-breaker question after they both got one out of three questions right in the championship round and the initial tie-breaker question right.
According to Joe Winkler, there were 22 students who participated in the event after 25 had initially registered to compete. The nine finalists who advanced past the original preliminary rounds were Miller and Richard, along with Lucy Edholm, Peter Edholm, Raedan Thayer, Jace Erickson, Cadyn Ramirez, Gage McKim and Baxter Crawford. Thayer was the only one to get all seven questions he was given right in the preliminary rounds.
The preliminary competitions dealt with international areas, bodies of water, along with questions about the United States and different landmarks to start.
According to Winkler, Miller will now take a test in order to qualify to attend the state competition on March 27, in Laramie. If he is to advance from that competition, he would qualify for the national championships in Washington, D.C. on May 17-21.