Nine students from Thomas County Middle School have qualified for the National History Bee.  The competition began with a test the students completed at school.  Students who scored high enough on the test advanced to the Regional Contest in Jackson, Georgia on Saturday, February 20.  There are only 40 regions in the United States for this competition.  Five of the nine qualifying students were in the top eight for their division.

“National History Bee is a new academic competition for TCMS. The social studies department was excited to offer the opportunity to compete on historical knowledge - a topic that many students love. Several of our students that qualified for the regional competition were those that have not competed in a competition at this level before,” said Mandy West, social studies department chair at Thomas County Middle School.

The students were excited to make the cut in the competition and have a chance to show off their knowledge of history.  Anna James, seventh grade, said, “Some of the questions were actually easier than what I expected.  I knew a lot of the answers from what I’ve studied in school, things I’ve seen in movies or on TV, books I’ve read, and just life.”  

Jackson Singletary and Isaac Swope, who recently partnered to completed a National History Day project as well, are excited to advance with the National History Bee.   Singletary commented, “The competition was a lot of fun.  I enjoyed the World War II questions.”  Swope added, “It was like a game show.  I had no idea I would advance to Nationals.”

Deann Garcia teaches all three of the eighth grade students who have advanced to the next level of the National History Bee.  She said, “Attending the Regional History Bee was an excellent experience for our students.  They were able to showcase their knowledge of history through head to head competition with other history buffs from around the state.”

West added, “While we are proud of our students and their success, we are very proud of the way they represented our school and system.”

The students who have qualified for the National Bee include Ethan Nicoll (6th grade);  Anna James, Danielle Sauls, Jackson Singletary, Isaac Swope, Brynna Robertson (7th grade); and Chandler Craven, Zach Goff, and Matthew Sherrod (8th grade).  

The National History Bee competition will take place June 9-12 in Chicago, Illinois.