Kingfisher had 13 students advance past the recent National Science Bee regional final and will now take part in the national competition.

The national championships, hosted by International Academic Competitions, will be staged in Orlando, Fla., in June.

The Kingfisher contingent were among more than 80 students who competed March 26 in the regional final competition for elementary and junior high divisions hosted at Kingfisher Middle School.

Along with the National Science Bee regional, there was also an International Geography Bee regional contested as well as an online National History Bee.

Joining the more than 30 Kingfisher students were others from Stillwater, Taloga, Drummond, Taft Middle School as well as some from Texas, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.

Kingfisher students only competed in the National Science Bee portions of the competition.

Among those qualifying for nationals were those who placed in their respective divisions at the regional:

• Eighth grade division – Aiden Stevens, first; Brandon Gutierrez, second

• Seventh grade division – Savana Reherman, first

• Sixth grade division – Finley Harrison, first; Carson Swafford, second

• Fifth grade division – Noah Clayton, second; Barron Bollenbach, third

Also qualifying for nationals were Trayson Deterding, Brantley Johnson, Scott Schellenberg, Lucas Jackson, Mateo Arita and Kevyn Aguinaga.

“I am incredibly proud of all of our students that qualified and decided to try something new,” said Melody Kuehn, a sixth grade science teacher at KMS who worked to secure Kingfisher as a host site and served as a local coordinator for the event.

“I know a few of them were apprehensive about doing poorly. I told them the only ones who fail are the ones who do not try. They all told me they had a fun time, and I hope more will decide to participate next year.”

Kuehn also worked to garner several people to help work the event, including those who read questions for multiple rounds of competition.

Among them were Rep. Mike Dobrinksi and Sen. Darcy Jech.

“It was a great event. The time really flew by,” Jech said. “It was a challenge for me to read some of the questions, but they were very sharp kids.”

Jech said students didn’t get caught up in the heat of competition.

“They would get worked up with themselves, but they were very encouraging to one another,” Jech said. “It was great to see that.”

He was also impressed with Kuehn’s work leading up to and during the event.

“She deserves a lot of kudos for going above and beyond her job to make that happen,” Jech said of Kuehn. “You could tell she took a lot of pride in the event and a lot of kids will benefit because of it.”

Kuehn also secured local financial support for the event, which she said she’d like to see Kingfisher host again.

“The support of our community is paramount to the ability to be able to participate in events like these and for ones in the future,” she said.