In the history bee students are tested in a quiz show format on all areas of history. A total of 100 students from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee participated in the Lexington regionals.
Since history is such a broad topic, the elite eight of Beavercreek have interests in a variety of periods and for nearly as many reasons.
âI love the French revolution because Iâm a Broadway nerd,â said Lauren Anderson, 12, a sixth grader at Ferguson. âLes Miserables is my all-time favorite musical and thatâs what really got me into the French Revolution.â
Matthew Riekens, a 13-year-old eighth grader at Ankeney also enjoys studying the French Revolution, but for different reasons.
âItâs just a fascinating period of history with the push to democracy and then they fall back into monarchy and the struggle continues,â Riekens said. âNapoleon is a really interesting historical figure.â
âHistory is far and away my favorite subject at school,â said Robby Holstein, 13, a seventh grader at Ankeney. âThereâs just so much that has already happened and so many cool things that has led to the current state of the world.â
Alex Kearns, a 14-year-old eighth grader said he enjoys studying Ancient Greece and Rome.
âThe insights their historians and philosophers had in their writings are still very relevant today,â Kearns said. âI think thatâs just fascinating.â
âHistory just makes sense and it explains a lot about whatâs going on today,â said William Wilson, a 13-year-old eighth grader at Ankeney. âIf you pay attention you can see patterns that repeat and a lot of cause-and-effect stuff.â
To qualify for the history bee, every student at Ferguson and Ankeney took a written test. The top four scorers from each school then took an online test to qualify for the regionals. Remarkably, every one of the eight Beavercreek-area students who took the online test qualified to compete in Lexington. At the regionals, the students were broken into groups of ten and given 90 questions in a quiz show format.
âIt was very competitive,â said David Cohen, 13, a seventh grader at Ferguson. âThey would just start reading the question and like four words in, somebody would buzz in. A lot of times I knew the answer but couldnât buzz in fast enough.â
The students prepared for the History Bee in a variety of ways. Robert Reid, 13, an eighth grader at Ankeney watched the television series âA Crash Course in World Historyâ and took several online quizzes.
âThe show provided insight into numerous periods in history,â Reid said. âIt was really helpful.â
Nick Hann, a 12-year-old seventh grader took his own crash course, reading âtwo or threeâ history encyclopedias on the car ride from Beavercreek to Louisville.
âI didnât get car sick, which was good,â Hann said. âI just tried to cram in as much as possible.â
In the end, Anderson, Cohen, Hann, Holstein, Reid, and Riekens qualified for the national history bee finals.
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