WESTMORELAND INTERSCHOLASTIC
READING COMPETITION
M
Hillcrest Team
rs. Ballas and Mrs. Ebbitt took three
Hillcrest teams, and Mrs. Brooks and
Ms. Lojas took two Middle School
teams, to Seton Hill University for
the 20th annual Westmoreland Interscholastic
Reading Competition (WIRC). The WIRC is a
motivational “Reading Olympics” designed to
promote reading. Thirty-five teams of middle
school students from grades 6-8 competed to
correctly answer the most questions about books
they had read. Students who joined the teams
were required to read at least 12 books from a list
of 40, though many of the WIRC members read
more than 15 books.
From Hillcrest:
The “Sorcerer’s Books and the Screaming
Staircase” came in twelfth place. The “All Rise for
the Norwin Knights” team came in ninth place,
and the “Notorious Norwin” team came in third
place.
From Middle School:
The “Counting by Words” team came in fifth
place, and the “Death Readers” came in 23rd.
Middle School Team
Norwin Middle School Student Advances to Pennsylvania
State Competition of the National Geographic “GeoBee”
C
onner Bollinger, an eighth-grade student
at Norwin Middle School, advanced to the
semifinals of the 2019 National Geographic
GeoBee Pennsylvania State Competition held at
The State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg
on Friday, March 29, 2019.
This was the second level of the National
Geographic GeoBee competition, which is
now in its 31st year. School GeoBees were held
in schools with fourth- through eighth-grade
students throughout the state to determine each
school champion. School champions then took
an online qualifying test, which they submitted
to the National Geographic Society. The National
Geographic Society invited up to 100 of the
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NORWIN
top-scoring students in each of the 50 states,
the District of Columbia, Department of Defense
Dependents Schools and U.S. territories to compete
in the State GeoBees.
Conner, who is the son of Janet and Gary
Bollinger, has long been interested in geography,
according to his teachers at Norwin Middle School.
“Conner is an outstanding student who prides
himself on his excellence in geography,” said Mr.
Dylan McElfresh, who was Conner’s social studies
teacher at Norwin Middle School this past school
year. “Geography is just one of Conner’s many
strengths in the social studies classroom.”
Norwin Middle School social studies teacher Ms.
Kristen Ummer is the school Bee coordinator.