Student spotlight: Glen Crest eighth grader Christian Pogorzelski
For Christian Pogorzelski, the path to the state geography bee started with a classmate’s challenge.
While in fifth grade at Westfield, Christian and a friend were debating where Puerto Rico was. When they consulted the map, Christian discovered that his classmate was correct.
Christian decided right then that wouldn’t happen to him again. He began studying maps, cultures, and geographical formations around the world.
“It was competitive nature that got me into it and now I really like it,” said the 14-year-old Glen Crest eighth grader.
Last school year, Christian won the school’s National Geographic GeoBee championship by getting all 70 questions correct – the first Glen Crest student to earn a perfect score.
Christian then advanced to the state finals by earning one of the top scores in Illinois on an online geography test.
His goal is to make it to state geography bee again this school year and hopefully do even a little better than last year. In preparation, he’s been studying local cultures, geography, and a lot more. A weather cycle question caught him off guard last year so Christian added that to his studies.
“I guess I’m going to have to study science to do the geography bee,” he remembered thinking.
Glen Crest teacher Pat Doyle isn’t surprised by Christian’s inquisitive nature.
“Christian makes connections with his prior knowledge and brings that into what we are doing in class,” Doyle said. “He really understands the relationship between geography, location, people, movement – and how they all work together.”
During his GeoBee preparation, Christian learned more about international politics, and he’s interested in possibly pursuing a career in that field.
Outside of school, Christian is a switch-hitting pitcher, catcher, third baseman, and first baseman who plays travel baseball. He also plays on the Glen Crest basketball team.
It’s all part of a busy schedule for a student who is going places – and will probably know a lot about those places when he gets there.