With a nod to the teachers at Port Jefferson Middle School, eight students took part in the Long Island regional competition of the Academic Bees, with several of them eligible for the national championships, to be held in Chicago in June.

Sixth graders Ruman Khan, Aoife Hogan, Max Joyner, Jack Snyder and Evan Monaghan, seventh graders Carman Stanton and Eric Chen and eighth grader Kenneth Dixon-Lanza represented at the Long Island regional competition.

Aoife, Max, Jack, Carman and Kenneth each earned a place in the national competition. Following the preliminary rounds, Kenneth won the Long Island Regional competition for the eighth-grade division of the Academic Bee and qualified for the national championships.