Earlier this year, world geography whiz Vincent Ianuzzi-Suchich, a Storm King eighth-grader, was well on his way to competing at the state level in National Geographic’s NatGeoBee, with a chance to advance to the national finals. Vincent’s journey began in late January when he emerged as the first place winner at Storm King’s Championship Round of the GeoBee proctored by Mr. Gillett, Mrs. Centeno, and Mrs. Hecht.

After passing a stringent online exam qualifying him to represent SKS while competing among 99 other schools from New York, Vincent was excited to travel to Albany for the State Championship GeoBee on March 27, 2020. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, National Geographic later made the decision to cancel the 2020 National GeoBee and all of its state-level competitions.

All of Vincent’s hard work and effort did not go unrecognized, however. In the spirit of the annual GeoBee, National Geographic organized a virtual event to celebrate the “tremendous achievements of all the students who qualified for the state GeoBee competitions.” On Friday, April 17, Vincent was invited to join the online celebration along with state qualifiers, family members, and educators from all 50 states.

This lively virtual event gave students like Vincent the opportunity to test their geographic knowledge against other students from across the country—all for fun and without the pressure of a live event. The celebration featured National Geographic Geographer Alex Tait, who answered questions from students live, as well as a live GeoBee “Kahoot!” game. Mr. Gillett along with Vincent’s family also joined the event online to listen in and celebrate his achievements.

Congratulations, Vincent, for your amazing grasp of world geography, your perseverance, and all of your hard work. Everyone in the Storm King Community is very proud of you!