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Hart, a sixth-grader from Darien, won the event when he correctly answered a question about on which European peninsula was Norway located. He correctly answered the Scandinavian Peninsula.
A previously held elimination round in fifth to eighth grade classes sent 10 middle school students to the school-level bee on Jan. 29. The finalists answered oral questions on geography. A series of questions winnowed the 10 finalists down to Hart and fifth-grader Finn Regan of Pound Ridge, who took second place overall.
In a three-way tie-breaking round, sixth grader J.P. Ohl of Greenwich won third place. The other year’s finalists: fifth-grader Thomas Arnold of New Canaan; sixth-grader Adrian Antonioli of New Canaan; seventh-grader Laura Mercedes of Ridgefield and Nick Brown of New Canaan; Eighth-grader Hannah Dekkar of Weston, Kendall Boege of Bedford and Jack Maguire of Ridgefield.
Hart and other school champions across the nation will take a written test with 75 questions. The 100 students with the top scores in each state will be eligible to compete in their state bee on March 27.
State winners will receive an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the national championship rounds May 11 to 13, courtesy of the National Geographic Society.
The first place national champion will receive a $50,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership in the society including a subscription to National Geographic magazine, and a trip to the Galápagos Islands.
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