Nearly 250 seventh-grade students from
Oceanway Middle School had the opportunity to research and present on 178 countries and territories around the world for the school's annual Geography Fair.
The students had three months to complete their projects, which consisted of a detailed backboard containing reasons to visit the country, cultural and historical information and maps. Additionally, students had to provide cooked food from the country as well as either music or clothing.
Students had to present their projects to two different judges (administrators or teachers) and the students’ goal was to convince each judge to visit their country. Once all the projects were judged at least twice, there was a second round of judges who determined the overall winners.
This year’s overall winners were: first-place, Mexico, Kameron Church, Brandon Hawkins and Edwin Ortiz; second-place, Iceland, Allyssa Hartenstine; and third-place, Guatemala, Brittney Cliett.
Geography teacher Ty Rogers began the Geography Fair at Oceanway during the 2007-2008 school year, and he says the idea to host a fair is gaining popularity throughout the district, with other schools now hosting their own.
“Our Geography Fair empowers each student to demonstrate understanding of a different country in the world and to convince individuals to visit. The students take their projects very seriously and I congratulate all of them for their hard work.”
For more pictures from the Oceanway Middle Geography Fair, visit the
DCPS' flickr photostream.
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