TAHOE CITY, Calif. — From Jan. 9-13, sixth through eighth grade students at North Tahoe School competed through seven grueling rounds of both U.S. and world geography in their social study classes to identify the 11 finalists to compete in the National Geographic Bee. These finalists then appeared in front of their peers Thursday, Jan. 19. Each contestant was given 15 seconds to answer the questions provided.

The contestants

Sixth grade contestants were Jacqueline Mellor, Javier Cuevas and Sutter Sellwold; seventh grade, Eric Bourke, Evan Olson, Freddy Leon, Madeline Dawson and Mariela Lazcano; eighth grade, Bryn Anderson, Madison Cleeland and Ryan Heisinger.

Beyond the third round

Jacqueline Mellor and Eric Bourke were the only two contestants to advance beyond the third round. By round 6, Eric Bourke, the champion from last year, again won the title as the North Tahoe School National Geographic Bee Champion. Mellor came in second place and there was a four-way tie for third place between Javier Cuevas, Sutter Sullwold, Bryn Anderson and Ryan Heisinger. This week, Bourke took his placement test and the results have been submitted to the National Geography Bee Review committee to determine his advancement.

— Submitted to aedgett@sierrasun.com