Students get to know the world for Lincoln Elementary Geography Bee
The energy was electric Thursday night as students chattered and quizzed each other on the stage of Lincoln Elementary’s auditorium in Corona del Mar.
“What’s the capital for that state?” one student asked.
And when another one answered, a different student said, “Is that right?”
More nervous, it seemed, were the parents, who had spent the last four months studying with their young children to memorize the locations of states and countries from all over the world. Thursday was the culmination of their efforts — the Lincoln Elementary Geography Bee, an event held on campus annually.
Pomona Elementary teacher Jon Pardoen said he’s kept the tradition alive even after leaving Lincoln in 2020. He started holding geography bees at the Orange Unified School District in the early 2000s, inspired by a professor who always had time-lines and maps that better contextualized conversations they had about history.
Students are given the material shortly after returning from their winter vacations. Studying for and participating in the bee is voluntary, but students are tested on the material beforehand to make sure they’re ready to compete. Those with the highest scores in earlier tests get to participate in the event, which often includes more than one student from each class.
Seventeen students competed Thursday, and Pardoen said as many as 23 have participated in the past.
The contest is designed for fifth- and sixth-graders, meaning that some students who competed last year were able to participate again this year.
Sixth-grader Nathan Gorman defended his title as champion this year. The 12-year-old said he shared his title with three other students who entered middle school last year, but he managed to come out on top for 2024.
“The exhilaration that I experienced made me want to come back [and compete]. I really love history and geography, so it’s a fun thing for me to do,” Nathan said, prior to the start of the bee. “It’s kind of one of the few chances that you actually get to [learn geography] other than taking a specialized class in high school or college. It’s a really exciting opportunity to be able to learn this stuff early on, so you can have more of a global view instead of individual countries.”
Nathen Mercer, who came in second, said he felt geography was important because people can use it their whole lives, even in small ways.
“Even if it’s just traveling or, like, even more upcoming geography bees like this, it’s very useful,” Nathen, who is also a sixth-grader, said. “I think it’s a really fun opportunity that you probably won’t get later on. It’s just good to take the opportunity because you might regret it [if you don’t] and ... you get to make new experiences, learn stuff and have fun. It’s a good time. Last year when I did this, I had a really fun time. I didn’t want to be first, but I just wanted to make sure it was a good one.”
Fifth-grader Ethan Jacobson won third place in the contest.
Fellow student and competitor Shwaas Kurada said he studied for about an hour and a half each day after getting the materials.
The 11-year-old said he felt that learning the locations of everything helped him associate places with historical events. He didn’t feel it mattered if participants didn’t score as well as they might have liked and said he agreed with Nathenthat more important than winning was having a good time and getting to know students from other classes and learning good study habits.
“I know that even if I don’t win, I really tried my best. I’ve now spent over 50 hours learning every single country in the world just to have fun, and isn’t that a good accomplishment?” Shwaas said.
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