By Jennifer Eisenbart
EDITOR
For Claire and Quinn Turke, the whole world is – at least in their minds – a private personal playground.
With parents who enjoy traveling, the Turke family has visited Australia, Indonesia, Russia, Denmark, Finland, France, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
It’s no wonder, then, that both Claire – a freshman-to-be at Burlington High School – and Quinn (who is entering Karcher Middle School) love geography.
The two were honored by the Burlington Area School District School Board Monday for qualifying for the state geography bee.
While neither made it to the finals, both won their school competitions to advance to state – Claire at Karcher and Quinn at Dyer Intermediate.
It wasn’t the first trip to state for Claire, either. She qualified as the school winner at Dyer two years ago and went to state as a sixth grader.
Both times she answered six of the seven questions correctly in the preliminary round at state, but did not make finals.
She also participated in the school geography bee as a fourth grader and a seventh grader, but did not advance.
“We had to know all the countries in the world, and where they were, and all the capitals,” Claire said. “I’ve always loved non-fiction, and geography really interests me.
“I like to know where things are,” she added. “Our family, we travel a lot.”
Entering the high school, Claire plans to up her knowledge considerably, which fits with the 4.0 grade-point average she owned at Karcher.
“I was thinking about taking some AP courses relating to it, but I can’t take them my freshman year,” Claire said.
Quinn, meanwhile, was the new family representative at state. It wasn’t her first time competing in the geography bee, but this was her first time making it past the classroom stage of the competition.
Classroom winners get to compete for the school title – and the chance to go to state.
“I was the only person who answered all of them right,” said Quinn of the school competition. “I just think it’s really cool.
“There’s just so much to learn about it,” she added. “There’s a lot of things you wouldn’t know about these places if I hadn’t come across them.”
At state, Quinn answered five of the seven questions correctly in the prelims.
When asked if she would try again at Karcher, the answer was quick.
“Definitely,” Quinn said.
Claire and Quinn are the daughters of Peter and Kathryn Turke, Burlington.
-
-
-
-
-