Riverwood Freshmen Win High School World Geography Bowl

Seven Riverwood High School freshmen seized first place honors in the annual High School Invitational World Geography Bowl hosted by Kennesaw State University April 25, 2008.  The victory wrested the top honor from Cobb County’s Walton High School, who has dominated for the last several years.

Not only did the team set a school record, they also went undefeated in all 18 rounds of competition against seven Metro Atlanta schools.

The contest, organized by Professor Harry Trendell of KSU’s Department of Geography and Anthropology, features questions written by his college students currently in geography classes. Questions draw from both physical features of the world, along with social and cultural patterns of human behavior.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Coach Jill Dondero, 9th Grade Geography instructor at Riverwood.  “They were relentless in their responses – in fact the professors came up to me afterwards and remarked how geographically smart my kids are.”  Previous years’ entries earned second and third places; Dondero indicated this was definitely Riverwood’s year to win, though she didn’t expect such complete domination of the rounds.

Several members have competed in elementary and middle school Geography Bees sponsored by National Geographic.  “This prior experience, coupled with an unsurpassed level of enthusiasm, provided an edge,” commented Dondero.

Top honor participants include: Jeffrey Klein, Captain; Sanjay Sridaran, Sparling Wilson, Alex Williams, Sophie Schulman, Robert Hickey and Cristy Stovall.