Freshman Mukund Udayakumar qualified to participate in the National History Bee which will take place Sunday, April 28, 2024.
A history bee is similar to a spelling bee in that it’s a competition between students. Instead of spelling out words, a history bee uses buzzers that someone will press in order to answer a question. The questions are long, vague descriptions of something relating to history that get progressively easier to identify as it goes.
The National History Bee consists of regional tournaments and national championships. Regionals come first and consist of three preliminary rounds and a final one. The national championship comes after and has six preliminary rounds, a playoff round, and then the actual championships. The national championship is what Udayakumar is currently qualified for.
“There were six of us [in the last qualifying round]. It was pretty hard, and the top three of us went off to the finals to play for rankings,” Udayakumar said.
Although Udayakumar has expressed its difficulty, he doesn’t spend every waking moment studying for the championship.
“[I study] Every now and then, in the car, on the way to school and on the way back.”
Udayakumar has a deep love for history and geography, which is needed to put in all the effort needed to make it to his position.
“I like history because I’ve always enjoyed learning about it. It’s cool to look at the past,” Udayakumar said.
