NASHUA – Three students from Nashua Catholic Regional Junior High School qualified to participate in the National History Bee, an academic competition for middle school students that tests their knowledge on a wide range of historical topics.

Nashua Catholic teacher Sharyn Sevigny said that after a schoolwide competition, the top five students took an online qualifying exam. Four Nashua Catholic students – Claire Reynolds, Katarina Junod, Randal Brown and Arushi Kalpande – earned high scores and qualified to participate in the New England Regional Bee Finals held in Boston in April. Claire, Randal and Arushi qualified to move on to the National History Bee, which will take place in Chicago in June.

Arushi earned first place out of more than 200 students in the regional competition and earned a "Top 8 in Grade 8" medal. Arushi isn’t new to participating in regional and national competitions. In February, she won the state spelling bee, and she will represent New Hampshire in the national competition in Washington, D.C., from May 22-27.

When asked which questions they answered in the competition, the students said they were proud to be able to answer questions about Alexander Hamilton, Pope Benedict XVI, the Holocaust (a unit the eighth grade recently finished) and the Bible.

"The National History Bee competition is very difficult, covering world history from ancient civilizations through modern times," Sevigny said. "Nashua Catholic students earned four spots at the New England Regional History Bee, with three students moving on to the National History Bee. We are very proud of the performance of all of our students."