Fort Mill Middle School student knows his way around the world

In the space of one hour, students crossed the oceans, explored land forms around the world, and identified physical features of various world regions, all without leaving the Fort Mill Middle School media center.

Ten Fort Mill Middle School students participated in the school’s geography bee Jan. 5. The students were selected to compete in the school’s geography bee based on their performance on a multiple choice geography test taken in class.

Eighth grader Lucas Grigat finished in first place in the school-wide geography bee. Maggie Rosinski, also in eighth grade, finished in second place.

Cindi Lightsey, Grigat’s Social Studies teacher, was proud of Grigat’s accomplishment at the geography bee.

“He reads a lot and I think through his reading he has been exposed to a lot of countries and cultures,” she said.

Grigat will take a qualifying exam to determine if he competes at the state level. If he competes and wins at the state competition, he will advance to the National Geography Bee’s national competition in Washington.

After the school geography bee, Grigat was “surprised” he won.

“I didn’t expect to win,” Grigat said. “Hopefully I’ll make it to the state bee.”

And though he didn’t prepare before the school geography bee, Grigat said that he plans to study for the state competition.

“I’ll probably study an atlas,” Grigat said.

This story was originally published January 17, 2017 at 10:33 AM with the headline "Fort Mill Middle School student knows his way around the world."