Nixon Library honors students who really know their geography - Orange County Register

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YORBA LINDA – The tsunami in Sri Lanka and the war in the Middle East were simply sound bites from the news to 13-year-old Natalie Jones.

But that was before her perfect score.

For months, Jones a seventh-grade student from St. Francis of Assisi, joined other middle schools students from Placentia and Yorba Linda to prepare for a world geography test sponsored by the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace. Some 2,236 students were given the test; 804 passed.

On Monday, 342 students were honored by the library for achieving a perfect score on the 35-question oral test of the world’s countries, oceans, rivers, bays and islands.

“It was harder than I thought it would be,” said Jones. “You had to go over and over it, a lot of memorization. But now I feel like I know where everything is. And when I hear Sri Lanka, I know where it is.”

Students received medals and certificates for their accomplishments during the award ceremony. St. Francis of Assisi and Yorba Linda Middle School received trophies for having the highest percentage of winners. Jackie Watson, a teacher at Kraemer Middle School, split her class into teams and gave her students quizzes to spark the spirit of competition. “The sense of accomplishment for them is transforming,” Watson said. “At first it was kind of a drag for them because of all the memorizing, but when they started to get things right the kids loved it.”

Parents with their cameras and video cameras watched proudly during the ceremony at the library’s replica of the White House East Room.

Mona Crispan’s daughter, Michelle, a Tuffree Middle School seventh-grader, received a perfect score. “She watches the news and knows where these places are now, and she shows me on the map,” said Crispan. “Mom got a geography lesson, too.”

Contact the writer: (714) 704-3706 or carora@ocregister.com

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