Photo by Lester Smith
In his school’s library, Nicholas Sickman points on the globe to the farthest from Suffield he has travelled. A seventh grader at Suffield Middle School, Nick won the opportunity to represent Suffield in the Connecticut State Geography Bee, sponsored by National Geographic Magazine. (His farthest spot is the family timeshare in Aruba, a small island near Venezuela.)
Local Student Named Connecticut National Geographic State Bee Semifinalist by National Geographic Society. Nicholas Sickman, son of Marie and Derek Sickman, an eighth- grade student at Suffield Middle School, has been notified by the National Geographic Society that he is one of the semifinalists eligible to compete in the 2017 Connecticut National Geographic State Bee. The contest will be held at Central Connecticut State University on Friday, March 31
This is the second level of the National Geographic Bee competition, which is now in its twenty-ninth year. School Bees were held in schools with fourth through eighth-grade students throughout the state to determine each school champion. School champions then took a qualifying test, which they submitted to the National Geographic Society. The National Geographic Society has invited up to 100 of the top-scoring students in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Department of Defense Dependents Schools and U.S. territories to compete in the State Bees.
Nicholas enjoyed the experience in the Connecticut bee at the end of March, but he didn’t survive the eliminations. He answered “England” to a question where the answer wanted was “Great Britain.” It’s a complicated world.