West Essex Eighth Grader to Represent NJ in National History Bee

A  eighth-grader who loves watching the History Channel in his spare time is the first place winner of the New Jersey Regional History Bee in the first ever National History Bee for middle school students.

Jason Morganti, of Fairfield, a passionate history buff, was named the winner in the Regional Round of the National History Bee held on March 20 at J.P. Case Middle School in Flemington.

Jason and Louis Galarowicz, a West Essex seventh grader from North Caldwell, both competed in the Regional Round. The boys were ranked first and third in the preliminary round following an Online Regional Qualifying Exam. In the regional competition, the boys competed in three rounds of questions with 22 other semi-finalists. The first round of questions focused on the period 3500 BC to 1944; the second round focused on World History and the third was based on questions  from 1945 to March 19, 2012.

In the New Jersey regional finals, Jason went head-to-head with the second place winner and was selected to represent New Jersey in the National History Bee & Bowl in Washington, D.C. on May 12, 2012.

Jason will now represent the State of New Jersey and compete against 32 other finalists from across the country for the grand prize—a $52,000 college scholarship. The event will be broadcast live on the History Channel. This is the first year that the Bee offered a Middle School Division of the contest.

“Jason and Louis did a phenomenal job representing West Essex at this event,”  said Middle School Principal David Montgomery.