A trio of Rutherford County Schools — Central Magnet, McFadden School of Excellence and Thurman Francis Arts Academy — recently took part in the 2020 school-level National Geographic Geography Bee contest. 

Grayson Davis was the winner at Central, while fellow eighth-graders Gabe Redferin and Jackson Denton placed second and third respectively.

Collin Barrett was the school champion at McFadden, while Nora Foss and Mason McConnell were second and third. All three students are in fifth grade.

Seventh-grader Orion Perkins was the winner at Thurman Francis. 

The school competitions are only the first of several rounds in the annual GeoBee, which was founded in 1989 in response to a growing concern young people in America had a noticeable lack of geographic knowledge. In the past 30-plus years, more than 120 million students have participated, according to information provided from Central Magnet School.

The competition was designed to inspire curiosity.

School champions will now take an online qualifying test with up to 100 of the top scorers being selected for the State GeoBee. Each state winner will then receive an all-expense-paid trip to the national championship later this spring. 

Students and parents can learn more at www.natgeobee.org.

Photo: Nora Foss, left to right, Collin Barrett and Mason McConnell from McFadden School of Excellence (Provided)