3 earn semifinalist spots in geography bee

Staff report

youngstown

Three area youths were recently named semifinalists in the 2011 Ohio Geography Bee sponsored by the National Geographic Society.

The three are: Cooper Johnson, 14, son of Scott and Joy Johnson of Canfield, an eighth-grader at Willow Creek Learning Center in Boardman; Michael Palagano, 14, son of Mike and Yvonne Palagano and an eighth-grader at Boardman Glenwood Middle School; and Zach Morris, son of George and Coby Morris and an eighth- grader at Salem Junior High School.

This is the third consecutive year that Cooper has earned this distinction. This year’s state competition was to be Friday at The Ohio State University Mansfield Branch.

The state winner will represent Ohio in the national finals at the National Geographic Society headquarters, May 24-25, 2011. The first-place winner will receive a $25,000 college scholarship and a lifetime membership in the society.

The boys were recently notified by the National Geographic Society that they were eligible to compete in the Ohio event. Bees took place in schools for fifth- through eighth-graders across the state to determine each school’s Geography Bee winners. Those winners then took a qualifying test in an effort to be selected for the state-level competition.

Cooper, who will attend Canfield High School in the fall, was also on the Willow Creek math team that won this year’s regional MATHCOUNTS competition at Youngstown State University.

From an early age he exhibited an interest in geography and has traveled extensively with his family. Cooper enjoys golf and playing violin in the Youngstown Youth Symphonette. He also volunteers on the weekends as a teen docent at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Michael participates in his school’s television station, drama club, band, jazz band and orchestra and is a member of the Knowledge Masters team. He was also his school’s spelling bee champion.

He is an altar server at St. Dominic Church and has won his school’s geography bee each year since fifth grade. Michael has gone to the state competition for the last two years. He is coached by Vincent Carnevale, a social-studies teacher at Glenwood Middle School.