A year of study and practice culminated in a trip to Atlanta, Georgia June 1-2 to compete in the National History Bee, an academic competition designed to motivate and reward students for studying history, for Norris Students Hannah Rathjen, Mason Severson, and Pete Wasser.  The three had advanced from the school level to regionals in Omaha where each earned a top 8 medal in their division to qualify for the national finals. The National History Bee competition features questions written and edited by history teachers, professors, and other social studies educators from around the United States. Question content is split evenly between the United States and non-United States history and is generally relevant to 5th through 8th-grade social studies curricula.  At the National Finals, the students competed against students from across the country in their respective grade levels. The preliminary rounds at the national finals consisted of a 50-question exam and four gameshow style buzzer rounds against eight other competitors. At the conclusion of the preliminary rounds, Hannah placed 301st of 480 eighth graders, Mason 168th of 450 seventh graders and Pete 251 of 600 sixth graders and younger.  By virtue of finishing in the top 256 of their grade level, Mason and Pete advanced to the playoff buzzer rounds.  Though neither placed in the top two of their buzzer round to advance to the round of 64, they did receive medals for making the playoffs.  In addition to the competitions, students had the opportunity to visit “ACE World” an exposition featuring displays on medieval life, WWI, quilting and other historical topics and booths from various colleges.