Four students at Ignite Christian Academy qualified for the 2017 National History Bee Finals, which were held June 2-4 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Matthew Clayton, a fourth grader from Mount Morris, Pennsylvania, and Elizabeth Will, a sixth grader from Estelline, South Dakota, qualified in the elementary division. In addition, Tyler Burkhart of Columbus, Ohio, and Joseph Johnson of Prescott Valley, Arizona, made the championship event for seventh grade students. Johnson was one of only four 7th graders to qualify from the Phoenix regional.
“Qualifying for nationals is the largest accomplishment I have ever achieved,” Johnson said. “I give credit to God and my family for helping me and encouraging me. I also give credit to my school, my teachers at Ignite Christian Academy, and all their online history classes that are available.”
At the National Finals, Clayton and Johnson competed in four preliminary buzzer rounds consisting of 25 questions each round. They also took a 40-question multiple-choice exam. The 64 highest-ranked students advanced to the championship buzzer rounds. While the two ICA students did not do as well as they had hoped at Nationals, they both said that competing at the highest level was a great experience.
“I had a great weekend at the History Bee,” Clayton said. “There were a lot of good speakers. In addition to the bee, I met a lot of kids that loved history, and I still had some time to see a little bit of Atlanta.”