Jason Collett, a sixth grader at Houlton Southside School, and Michael Ross, an eighth-grader at Houlton Junior High School, have been chosen by the National Geographic Society as semifinalists eligible to compete in the 2014 Maine State Geographic Bee, sponsored by Google and Plum Creek.
Ross became the first student to win the district’s Geography Bee three years in a row.
This is the second level of the National Geographic Bee competition, which is now in its 26th year. Bees were held in schools with fourth- through eighth-grade students throughout the state to determine each school’s Bee winner.
School-level winners then took a qualifying test, which they submitted to the National Geographic Society. The National Geographic Society invited the students with the top 100 scores in each of the 50 states, District of Columbia, Department of Defense Schools and U.S. territories to compete at the state level. This year the 2014 Maine State Geographic Bee will be held at University of Maine at Farmington on Friday, April 4.
Collett is the son of Peter and Lisa Collett. Ross is the son of Jon and Leslie Ross. For more information on the National Geographic Bee, visit www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee.