Kaizer Bautista, who recently completed fifth grade at Circleville Elementary School, had some fun and educational extracurricular activities through the school year and recently.
Kaizer began participating in academic competitions back in April through International Academic Competitions. Held in Ridgewood, N.J., he joined two quiz bee subjects, history and geography representing Circleville Elementary School.
Kaizer made it to the finals and qualified for future competitions from a pool of more than 30 fifth-grade students. He qualified for the national competition as well as the international competitions for both.
From the beginning, Kaizer truly enjoyed history, especially the United States military and world wars, according to his mom, Jhancel Bautista. A friend mentioned the national history and geography bees and they asked Kaizer if he would like to compete. He did!
Kaizer qualified for the national competition and international competition by finishing in the top percentage of those fifth-graders who competed from the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania region.
He and his family, including his mom and dad Jhancel and Gian Bautista, traveled to the national competition in Virginia in early June where he competed for four intense rounds. Kaizer got some great experience participating in these first academic competitions and vowed he will be back to compete even stronger next year!
A thrill for Kaizer was having the opportunity to meet David Madden, the founder of this competition and a Jeopardy champion for 19 weeks in 2005!
“As a first time competitor in this kind of event, being able to qualify at the national level is a great achievement and a memorable experience for Kaizer,” said his proud parents.
Great job, Kaizer! We are so proud of you!