Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
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WYNNEWOOD >> On April 17, Friends’ Central welcomed over 320 people, including 150 Middle School student qualifiers from both public and private schools in the tri-state area, at the Regional Finals of the National History Bee. Eight Friends’ Central Middle Schoolers qualified for and participated in the Regional Finals, and based on their performance at Regionals, four students qualified for National Finals. In addition, nine students competed in the National Competition in the Upper School division, which also took place in April.
FCS Middle School students, Samuel Kazak, Jacob Lowry, Ankitha Reddy Gundala, Charlie Szwartz, Dev Gupta, Masieh Hunley, Jordan Paszamant, and Julia Beyer, finished among the top 120 in the region on the Online Regional Qualifying Exam (ORQE), making them eligible to participate in the Regional Finals of the National History Bee. Based on their outstanding performance at the Regional Finals, Dev Gupta, Samuel Kazak, Jacob Lowry, and Charlie Szwartz qualified for the National Finals, which takes place June 1-4 in Atlanta, Ga.
Middle School teacher Jebb Chagan, who is also the coordinator for the History Bee, comments, “Over the course of the last six years, it has been exciting to see our young people compete in this national competition, joining a select group of some of the best young minds in the country. As I think about our students who have participated in weekly history meetings, lunch study sessions, and numerous practice tests, I could not be more proud. For our Middle Schoolers who qualified to compete at the National Finals, the entire Friends’ Central community is especially proud.”
This was the sixth consecutive year that Friends’ Central’s Middle School participated in the National History Bee, and the fourth year Friends’ Central has hosted the Regional Finals. Middle School Principal Alexa Quinn shares, “The History Bee is a wonderful opportunity for our students to demonstrate their passion for and knowledge of history, and we’re so proud of the Middle Schoolers who participated and those who advanced to the next round! We were thrilled to host again this year and hope to continue the relationship we now have with the History Bee.”
In addition to these four Middle Schoolers, in the Upper School division, nine Friends’ Central students competed in the MidAtlantic Region History Competition, advanced to the semi-finals, and competed at Nationals last month! The FCS Varsity team finished in the Upper Bracket Group, JV finished fourth in their bracket. Those students were David Arnold ’17, Sam Weiss ’17, Harrison Burdge ’17, Mike Wang ’17, Sara Bergmann ’19, Ben Klein ’19, Marielle Buxbaum ’20, Ryan Jokelson ’20, and Camilla Liu ’19! Senior David Arnold also finished in the top third of all Bee competitors in the nation!
Congratulations to all Middle and Upper School students who participated in this exciting competition, and good luck to the Middle School students competing in Nationals!