Winners Announced In State Geography Bee

April 11, 2008

Bowling Green, Ky. - One hundred of Kentucky's most geographically aware fourth- through eighth-graders competed for the state championship of the annual National Geographic Bee April 4 at Western Kentucky University’s South Campus.
           
The annual competition culminates with the national championship in Washington, D.C., each May, after state-level championship rounds on the first Friday of April.
           
Matthew Vaughan, a home-schooled 13-year-old from Louisville, became the Kentucky State Champion.  The final question addressed a region in Africa that Matthew had traveled in with his family.  Nathan Grosser from St. Catherine of Siena in Ft. Thomas placed second, and Jesse Shelburne a student at Noe Middle School in Louisville rounded out the top three finishers.
           
Vaughan received a monetary award and a globe, along with an expenses-paid trip to the national competition.
           
Students were tested on a range of geographic subjects, from capitals to culture, landforms to the environment. The National Geographic Bee website (http://nationalgeographic.com/geographybee/index.html) provides details of the annual competition, along with a daily quiz with questions similar to the ones asked in the competition.
           
Sample questions included: Chile has extensive copper reserves in what desert? (Atacama), and: The Huang Ho is commonly known by what English name? (Yellow River).
           
Dr. Stuart Foster from the Department of Geography and Geology served as the Master of Ceremonies for the event.  A number of faculty and students from the Departments of Geography and Geology and Curriculum and Instruction volunteered for the event.
           
Every year thousands of schools in the United States participate in the National Geographic Bee using materials prepared by the National Geographic Society.

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