Davison Ave. student readies for NatGeo Bee

Pat Fisher had been moderating the Social Studies Club at the Davison Avenue School for several years when she received information about the National Geographic Bee, a geography contest for middle school students. “We started participating in it shortly after I received their materials about the contest,” said Fisher. “We have a small club – 10-12 students – and the winner of our club takes the exam to see if they qualify for the state. But we’ve never had anyone qualify,” she said.

Until now.

Davison 5th grade student, Liam Flynn of North Lynbrook, qualified to participate in the state Bee, which will be held on Friday, March 27 at the New York State Museum in Albany. He will be one of 100 students from across New York looking to win the state title and compete in the national championships that will be held in May in Washington D.C.

The NatGeo Bee is open to students in the 4th through the 8th grade. Liam is in 5th grade, a younger competitor to the group, which usually has had 7th and 8th graders competing in it, said Fisher.

“He’s a very bright boy and is coming in almost every morning and practicing on the computer and studying,” said Fisher, who stated that Liam also studies during lunch periods to prepare for bee. “The questions he gets wrong ,we discuss a little bit, and I have to practice the ones I don’t know either,” she said.

According to both Fisher and Liam’s mother, Kristine Flynn, Liam’s grandfather has a love of history, a passion Liam and his grandfather share together. “Liam is naturally interested in social studies and absorbs a lot,” said Flynn. “He remembers many facts, and he and his grandfather have a lot to talk about because of that,” she added.

Fisher said she’s given Liam several books to help himself prepare, but Liam is taking the initiative too. “We had a book fair in school recently, and he was very proud of the fact that he bought the updated version of the NatoGeo World Atlas,” she said

Each state champion will receive $100, the “National Geographic Atlas of the World, 10th Edition,” a medal, and a trip to Washington, D.C., to represent their state in the national competition, which will be held at National Geographic Society headquarters. The event will be moderated by broadcast journalist Soledad O’Brien, who also serves as the bee’s executive producer.

Liam is the first Davison Avenue student to qualify for the state competition, and is naturally very excited.

“The principal told me I’m the first to represent the school, the district and Malverne,” said Liam who had been studying country capitals that morning. Those he rattled off the top of his head were Beijing (China), Pyongyang (North Korea), and Seoul (South Korea).

Schools interested in participating in the 2016 National Geographic Bee in mid-August 2015 should visit its website, www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee, for information.