Heath School Holds First Geography Bee And Jane Robinson Wins

BROOKLINE, MA — Panama is home to one of Central America's largest national parks, and that park is known to be home to a near extinct species of Jaguar. Not everyone knows that fun fact. But one Heath School 8th grader did. And she pulled that knowledge out during a school geography competition to clinch her winning spot in the Heath School's first National Geographic GeoBee contest this week.

Jane Robinson,13, won the school-level round geography quiz that students in grades four through eight are participating in across the country, similar to a spelling bee. The runner-up was Tom Pogorelec, a 5th grader at the school.

That means Jane could be facing off against winners from other schools across the state, and her school and family are pretty proud of her.

“I’m excited to launch this amazing opportunity at Heath School and thank the Heath PTO for the grant that made it possible,” said Principal Asa Sevelius in an emailed statement. “Not only is the GeoBee a tremendous opportunity to learn more about the world around us, but it fosters the risk-taking spirit we strive to encourage at Heath. Congratulations to Jane and to all our finalists.”

Although this is Heath's first year holding the National Geographic bee, other Brookline schools have participated in the past.

After winning, Jane, along with thousands of school winners across the country took an online qualifying test for the next round. If she makes it into the top 100 scorers in the state she'll go on to compete in the Massachusetts GeoBee in March. The next round is the 2019 National Geographic GeoBee in Washington, D.C., in May, for a chance to win college scholarships.

The winners of the State GeoBees receive an all-expenses-paid trip to National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, to participate in the GeoBee national championship, competing for scholarships, cash prizes, and an all-expenses-paid Lindblad expedition to the Galápagos Islands aboard the National Geographic Endeavour ll.

"I'm really proud of her, but I'm not surprised," said Jane's mother Susan Silberberg upon hearing the news. "Jane has been traveling with the family since she was a baby."

Silberberg, who is a city planner, has taken Jane on work trips to Ireland, Puerto Rico and Peru most recently.

"She's seen quite a lot of the world, and she's a really curious and open-minded traveler, I think that all of that traveling has just really opened up political science and geography for her," her mom said.

When Jane won the school round, she texted her mom and two older brothers right after school to show them the medal.

Although this was the first year Heath participated, this wasn't the first Jane had heard of the competition. Jane participated when she attended the Lincoln school, before she transferred to Heath. Still, this was the first time she won.

"I like geography, so I was like I'm definitely going to do this," Jane told Patch in a phone interview. "I just like learning about the world and other cultures - and just how other places are different from the place that I've grown up in."

In preparation for the competition in the Heath school auditorium, Jane said she studied maps a lot, but was still a bit nervous.

After several rounds, Jane won with the final question about the park in Central America.

"I was really shocked. I didn't think I was going to win. I kind of couldn't really tell what was going on around me [when it happened] and the vice principal just medal around my neck," she said.

Friday, she took the next round and answered 70 multiple-choice questions on a school computer. Now it's time to sit and wait to see if she'll go on to the state round.

And that may yet be the hardest part of the competition. Still, Jane recommends any students out there thinking about participating next year to just go for it.

"It's just a really cool experience, even if you don't get very far," said Jane. "It's just really fun to test your knowledge on something that doesn't count for a school grade."

Photo up top: (L to R) Brookline Public Schools K-8 Social Studies Coordinator Geoff Tegnell; Heath School Vice Principal Kirtan Patel; Jane Robinson, GeoBee winner; Tom Pogorelec, GeoBee runner-up; Heath School Social Studies teacher David Fleming, (Photo credit: Pierce School Social Studies teacher Chris Smith).