Artemisia! . . . Boom! . . . the National History Bee National Finals

Well, we have just returned from Atlanta and the National History Bee National Finals, and we are very proud and pleased to relate that Malcolm did great! There were just under 700 students from 47 states that participated. We met and talked with several families from all over the country . . . California, Texas, Connecticut. There were even kids who journeyed from Alaska and Hawaii for the event!

As I said Malcolm did great. He outright won or tied for first in each of his preliminary rounds (I should add that there were ten children in each preliminary round).  And by doing so, he qualified for the Championship Rounds. There were three championship rounds . . . the first consisting of 128 students divided into 16 sections. The top two from each section moved on into the next round where the final eight advanced to ultimate championship round. Well, Malcolm made it into the first championship round.

To show how hard it is when you get to this point in the competition, the boy who won the Nashville Region (the last two years no less) was also eliminated in Malcolm's section. Apparently some kids even have personal "history coaches." So, compared to some, we didn't really put much effort into reviewing for the event which impresses me even more knowing he was mostly relying on his existing general knowledge. (Above photo . . . to give you some idea of how large the event was, this picture was taken when I was positioned only about 2/3rds back).

Malcolm pointing to his name which signified that he was moving on to the Championship Rounds.

It was a thrill to watch Malcolm throwing out names like Eugene Debs, Samuel Gompers and events like the Bonus Army, the Prague Spring and that Artemisia was a reference to the Persian War. I must say the last eight kids in the final were amazing to watch. I was a history major and they would have blitzed me.