INPERSON
Hometown
History Buff
By Nicole Tafe
Quaker Valley Middle School’ s Paul Ratkovich participates in the National History Bee.
In June, Edgeworth’ s Paul Ratkovich showed off his skills, representing Quaker Valley at the National History Bee in Atlanta, Georgia. Paul, 13, is the son of Clark and Katy Ratkovich. This fall he’ ll enter eighth grade at Quaker Valley Middle School. At QVMS, he’ s a part of Club BEST and QVMS tennis. His favorite subject is history and his favorite teacher is Mr. Bell. Outside of school, Paul enjoys traveling and camping with his family.
“ I’ d have to say that my grandfather, David Aloe, is the person who first got me interested in history,” he says.“ When I was a toddler, I remember him telling me all sorts of fascinating historical anecdotes and to this day, I love having historical discussions with him.”
To get ready for the National History Bee, Paul studied from a book of historical facts. To qualify, he first took a written test at school that enabled entry to the Regional Bee that took place at West Allegheny Middle School. There were several buzzer rounds and a written test portion.
Paul qualified for the National History Bee as a top-eight finisher in the seventh grade division. The National Bee took place in Atlanta in the beginning of June and hosted over 350 seventh graders from all over the United States. The competition took place over two days and there were multiple buzzer rounds in addition to a written test. The top 64 finishers in the elementary, seventh and eighth grade divisions were invited to compete in the Championship Round held on the last day of the competition. histor
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