THEM Vs. THE WORLD: River Valley students compete in annual National Geographic Bee

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Staff photo by C.E. Branham
Staff photo by C.E. Branham

Discussion

January 13, 2010

By TARA HETTINGER The News and Tribune Wed Jan 13, 2010, 10:47 PM EST

Last year, River Valley Middle School seventh-grader Michael Parsons didn’t make it past the first round in the school level of the National Geographic Bee.

As an eighth-grader, he was determined for a better outcome.

“On the first day of school, he told me, ‘Mr. Rolfs, I’m going to win this competition,’” said Scott Rolfs, a River Valley teacher who sponsors the club that hosts the schoolwide competition. Each schools’ winners compete to get a chance to go to state and then nationals, with hopes of winning the top prize, a $25,000 scholarship.

So, Parsons studied and studied in preparation for his school’s competition Wednesday morning.

It worked.

“I really wanted to pull through on this. It’s just a mental thing I wanted to achieve,” the 14-year-old said after accepting his medallion. “I felt like I had to prove myself to myself and also to everyone else.”

This is the seventh time the school has participated in this national competition.

“Basically, we’re trying to promote geography and the knowledge of geography,” Rolfs said. “It’s generally known that Americans aren’t very well-versed in world geography.”

Rolfs said even he didn’t know the answers to some of the questions that some of the students got right. A total of 17 boys competed.

Rolfs said it was by chance that no girls made it to the final group, adding that two were invited after doing well on a test given to the entire school, but chose not to participate.

Coming in second place this year was seventh-grader Patrick Sauer.

“It’s better than last, but it’s not as good as first. I’ll try to do it again next year,” he said. “I hope to win.”

The competition is open to students in fourth to eighth grades. For the last three years in a row, the school winner at River Valley was chosen to compete at the state level, Rolfs said. However, none have made it to nationals.

“It’s a fierce competition,” Rolfs said of the state level, adding that he has gone up to support the students each time. “These kids, they know their stuff.”

Parsons is hopeful he’ll represent Southern Indiana well.

“I’ll probably study a lot for state,” he said. “I’m not going to make any predictions, because last year I thought I was going to make it.”

The state-level competition is scheduled for April 9. The national round, which is hosted by Alex Trebek and is shown on PBS, is May 25-26 in Washington, D.C.

PLAY ALONG

Here are some of the questions students answered as part of the National Geographic Bee. The answers are listed at the bottom.

1. Which state has a shoreline on Lake Erie: Oklahoma or Pennsylvania?

2. Which city is closer to the Tropic of Cancer: Sacramento, Calif., or San Antonio?

3. Which state would you not see prairie dogs in the wild: South Dakota, Nebraska or New Hampshire?

4. The Tropic of Cancer crosses through deserts of which continent?

5. The potato and tomato originated in the highlands of which continent?

6. The Caspian sea borders which country: Azerbaijan or Romania?

7. Mecca and Madinah are located in which country?

8. Only 12 percent of women in this country, which borders Pakistan and Iran, are literate.

9. Which river forms a border between Oklahoma and Texas?

10. After the U.S. and France, which island country generates the most power from nuclear energy?

ANSWERS

1. Pennsylvania

2. San Antonio

3. New Hampshire

4. Africa

5. South America

6. Azerbaijan

7. Saudi Arabia

8. Afghanistan

9. Red River

10. Japan