Cary Student named Illinois State Geographic Bee Semifinalist

Adam Loch, 14, of Cary has been notified by the National Geographic Society that he is one of the semifinalists eligible to compete in the 2014 Illinois State Geographic Bee, sponsored by Google and Plum Creek.

Loch won the school Geographic Bee at Saints Peter & Paul Catholic School in Cary to qualify him for this second level of the National Geographic Bee competition, which is now in its 26th year.

Bees were held in schools with fourth- through eighth-grade students throughout the state to determine each school's Bee winner. School-level winners then took a qualifying test, which they submitted to the National Geographic Society. The National Geographic Society invited the students with the top 100 scores in each of the 50 states, District of Columbia, Department of Defense Dependents Schools and U.S. territories to compete at the state level.

The 2014 Illinois State Geographic Bee will be held at College of DuPage on Friday, April 4, 2014.

The state winner will receive $100, the "Complete National Geographic on DVD" and a trip to Washington, D.C., to represent Illinois in the National Geographic Bee finals to be held at National Geographic Society headquarters, May 19-21, 2014. The national winner will receive a $50,000 college scholarship and lifetime membership in the Society. The national winner will also travel (along with one parent or guardian), all expenses paid, to the Galápagos Islands, where he/she will experience geography firsthand through up-close encounters with the islands' unique wildlife and landscapes. Travel for the trip is provided by Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic.