[CASL-L] School Librarian helps student win state spelling bee

[IRENE KWIDZINSKI]

Congratulations to Michael and Barbara!



________________________________
From: Lynn  A. Rappaport <lynfo16 at comcast.net>
To: CASL-L at mylist.net
Cc: Alison Hunt <alisonjhunt at comcast.net>; Tara Phethean <tphethean at gmail.com>
Sent: Sun, April 1, 2012 1:31:28 PM
Subject: [CASL-L] School Librarian helps student win state spelling bee




How one School Librarian made a big difference -- congratulations. 

Lynn Rappaport, MLS
School Librarian



courant.com/news/education/hc-geography-bee-0331-20120330,0,3495127.story
Courant.com
Darien Student Wins Geography Bee For Second Year In A Row
Michael Borecki Grew Up With A Talking Globe And Used Maps To Help His Mother 
Navigate
By KATHLEEN MEGAN, kmegan at courant.com
The Hartford Courant
12:36 AM EDT, March 31, 2012
NEW BRITAIN
advertisement  
— The state's top geography whiz kid grew up with a talking globe and used maps 
to help his mother navigate when she took him and his sisters on day trips.
But Michael Borecki, a seventh-grader from Middlesex Middle School in Darien, 
did it all without maps or globes Friday when he won the Connecticut Geographic 
Bee for the second year in a row.
Michael, who is the sixth Darien student to win the bee since it began in 1989, 
appeared calm and collected as he expertly made his way through about 20 
questions, missing only two, to clinch top place. He won a check for $100, a 
complete digital set of National Geographic magazines and an all-expenses-paid 
trip toWashington, D.C., for the national competition on May 24-25.
"There's a lot of pressure," Michael said after his win, "but it's fun, 
especially when we go down to Washington, D.C."
About 100 students in fourth through eighth grades competed in the bee, which 
was held at Central Connecticut State University and is part of a national 
competition organized by the National Geographic Society. The students who 
participated in Friday's contest had won their school bee and taken a qualifying 
test.
Michael's mother, Yvette Borecki, said that her son has been interested in maps 
and geography since he was a small child. He first entered the geography bee 
when he was in fourth grade and started preparing with Barbara Ivey, the school 
librarian at Middlesex Middle School and also a fan of geography.
Ivey said that she and Michael have been working together about three or four 
afternoons a week for the past year to get ready for Friday's competition.
"We pretty much talked about every country in the world," Ivey said, taking them 
one by one, covering culture, mountain ranges, exports, politics and natural 
resources.
William DeGrazia, an adjunct geography professor at Central who helps organize 
the event, said, "It's not just maps. It's the culture of countries, languages, 
vegetation, physical and human environments. … Geography is a broad-based 
subject."
In the first round, Michael glided through all eight questions, answering each 
correctly. He knew that Uruguay was not landlocked, while Botswana and Paraguay 
are. And he knew that the Canary Islands belong to Spain.
The first round seemed easier than last year, Michael said later. The finalist 
round for the top 10 competitors was harder and more pressure-filled. Brad 
Drazen, the NBC Connecticut News anchor who moderated, told the contestants that 
they had to remember to breathe.
He could have given the parents in the audience the same advice.
Christine Young of Granby, whose son Shane was one of the 10 finalists, said she 
thought there was more pressure on the parents than the kids.
"I was more of a nervous wreck than my son," who she said was quite mellow. "I 
was sitting there, my stomach was all scrunched up."
One question stumped Michael: The sport of ulama is popular today in the state 
of Sinaloa in what country? Michael thought it might be Indonesia, but it was 
Mexico.
At that point, all of the other contestants had also missed a single question — 
miss two and you're out. Michael later said that he had been worried, but not 
too worried.
The finalists were winnowed down to three: Michael Borecki; Katherine Overstrum, 
an eighth-grader from Wallingford; and Rayhan Asif, a fifth-grader from New 
Fairfield. Drazen asked the contestants: "You good? Need oxygen?"
A few more questions, including one on rivers that produce hydroelectric power 
in a country on the North Atlantic Ocean and another on lapis lazuli mining near 
the border of Tajikistan.
Finally, it was the championship round, and it was between Michael and Rayhan.
Drazen asked the first question: "Name the Baltic country that replaced the 
kroon with the euro in early 2011, becoming the most recent country to join the 
eurozone."
Michael's answer: Lithuania. Rayhan's: Finland. Both were wrong. The correct 
answer: Estonia.
The next question: What body of water connects the Gulf of Oman with the Persian 
Gulf?
This time only Michael answered correctly: the Strait of Hormuz.
And finally: What landlocked African country harvests timber and floats it down 
the Ubangi River to transportation facilities in the Democratic Republic of 
Congo?
Again, only Michael got it right: the Central African Republic.
"It was a relief when it was over," Michael said. "It was kind of 
nerve-wracking."

Copyright © 2012, The Hartford Courant
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