Students vie for $25,000 college scholarship

By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Dakota Gramour, an eighth-grade student, won the Houlton Junior and Senior High School Geographic Bee moving him one step closer to a $25,000 college scholarship. Jacob Conrad, in the seventh grade, was runner-up.
    Gramour took first place in an oral test on Dec. 10 in the school-level competition which was the first round in the 23rd annual National Geographic Bee. The Bee is being sponsored by Google. Even though he said “a question on Romania was tough and the lights were distracting,” Gramour prevailed over his competition during the oral test.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
GEOGRAPHY BEE WINNERS — Principal Marty Bouchard congratulates Dakota Gramour, winner of the Houlton Junior and Senior High School Geographic Bee, and runner up Jacob Conrad. Gramour is the son of Johnna Fleming and Lance Gramour; Conrad is the son of Joy Conrad and Ray Kervin.
    Gramour’s performance at the first level qualified him for the next round — a written test. Although he has taken that written test, the results will not be revealed until March.
    Jodi Peabody, seventh-grade social studies teacher, characterized the competition as “very difficult.” She said up to 100 of the top school winners on the written exam will be eligible to compete in the Maine State Bee on April 1 at the University of Maine in Orono. And, she added, “for 18 of the last 20 years, we have had a student go to the state bee from Houlton.”
    State champions and their teacher-escorts will get an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. for the national championship rounds May 24-25. Alex Trebek, host of the long running TV show “Jeopardy,” will moderate the final round on Wednesday, May 25.