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Snowdrops, by Cindy Schreiner

Cuba-Rushford’s Jakobe Swift is a trivia phenomenon!

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5th Grader qualifies for national and international competition

From the Swift Family

Cuba-Rushford 5th Grade Student Jakobe Swift recently competed in the National & US History Bee’s respectively.  The National History Bee is a buzzer-based history quiz competitions for primary and secondary students throughout the United States.  The National History Bee asks questions of world history where the US History Bee asks questions of United States History.  The History Bee is a competition for individual students; it is run by the International Academic Competitions, which organizes events in over 30 countries around the world, including the biennial International History Olympiad. 

This all started because Jakobe was interested in doing trivia, “Jeopardy style,” so I decided to see if there were any competitions available.  I was able to find the History Bee with an online test that needed to be taken.  Jakobe took the test and only missed 4 of the 50 questions, in less than ten minutes! Our family was totally amazed.  The next step was to find a Regional Qualifier which we did in Syracuse.

In March, Jakobe competed in the Syracuse Regional where he won his age group qualified for the National History Bee in Arlington VA from June 1-4 & the International History Olympiad in Rome, Italy from July 23-31, 2023.  Although Jakobe was the only 5th grader in attendance, he still scored higher than anyone at any level who competed on that day in Syracuse.

This past weekend Jakobe competed in a charity game of Jeopardy run by the founder & Co-Executive Director, 19-time Jeopardy Champion David Madden.  As for the competitions, Jakobe did an amazing job.  Out of the 122 5th grade students who participated in the National History Bee he finished 35th qualifying for the quarterfinals in his 1st ever attempt.  He did even better in the US History Bee, finishing in 14th place out of the 54 competitors making it to the Semifinals! 

As a sendoff, his classmates made him individual cards of support & big signs wishing him luck.  We are extremely proud of him & amazed at the knowledge he has.

Having qualified for the International History Olympiad is an amazing accomplishment, however there is some fundraising needed to give Jakobe the best experience possible.  We will be hosting a concert in Cuba on July 7th, selling a Jim Kelly autographed jersey for $10, a Josh Allen autographed jersey for $20 or a chance at both for $25. 

We also set up a GoFundMe that many people have graciously donated to which is here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/nationals-and-internationals-for-jakobe?utm_source=facebook

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