BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer
From Abbeville, Ala., to Zend, Wis., and from Antarctica to Zimbabwe, children in the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District really know their geography from A to Z.
Winners were recently named in the Manalapan-Englishtown district level of the National Geographic Bee.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for all of our students in grades four through eight to challenge their thinking about geography and their understanding of spatial relations,” said Bruce Mitzak, supervisor of social studies. “We have been participating since the beginning and for the past five or six years I’ve been the master of ceremonies.”
Mitzak said the geography competition is a wonderful event. He said it has been great to see the children challenge themselves at such a high level.
From the Manalapan Englishtown Middle School the winners were: first place, Brian Dittmeier, grade 8; second place, Josh Falescky, grade 7; and third place, Moyukh Chatterjee, grade 7.
At Pine Brook School the winners were: first place, Lloyd Burman, grade 6; second place, Anthony Horvath, grade 4; third place, Griffin Brodman, grade 5.
The winner at Lafayette Mills School was Justin Gerstenblith, grade 4. Anthony Silvestri, grade 6, was second; tied for third were Joseph DePeri, grade 6 and Bridgette Michalski, grade 5.
At Wemrock Brook School, Joseph Greco, grade 6, earned first-place honors, while Josh Lopez, grade 6, was second, and Lirim Capric, grade 6, placed third.
In other competitions involving the district’s students, 34 students placed first, second or third at the Jersey Shore Science Fair held at Richard Stockton College.
Winners were Ali Alissa, Christie Cangialosi and Nicole Tower for team projects; Claire Igarteburu for behavioral/social sciences; Mihir Khokhani for chemistry; Andrew Kazmierski for computer science; Laura Robinson for medical science; and Thomas Magg for physics.
There were 75 winners placing first through 11th in the Odyssey of the Mind qualifying tournament.
In Division I, problem five, the first place team winners were, from Pine Brook School, Alyssa Tower, Jackie Bavaro, Taylor Alessio, Michael Harvey, Neil Jagtiani, Matthew Peterson and Matthew Visone. The team was coached by Amy Schlissberg and Keri Aksman.
In Division II, problem two, the first place team winners were, from MEMS B, Nicole Tower, Joey Capuana, Nicole Cornetto, Gregory Gorenc, Joshua Kronenfeld, Shevaun O’Neill and Kerry Rubenstein. The team was coached by Karen Lozada.