Woodland Sixth Grade Student Qualifies for State Geography Competition
A Woodland Middle School sixth grader has reached the second level of the National Geographic Bee Competition qualifying to compete for the state championship on March 31.
Kenith Taukolo was named the school representative after competing against 19 other Woodland Middle School students in January. Each school champion then took a qualifying test, which they submitted to the National Geographic Society. The Society has invited up to 100 of the top-scoring students in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Department of Defense Dependents Schools and U.S. territories to compete in the State Bees.
"It's truly an accomplishment for Kenith to qualify for the state finals of the National Geo Bee," said Paul Durietz, Woodland Middle School social studies teacher. Durietz and social studies teacher Don Proft organized the school competition.
Each state champion will receive $100, the National Geographic Concise Atlas of the World, 4th Edition and a trip to Washington, D.C., to represent their state in the National Geographic Bee Championship to be held at National Geographic Society headquarters, May 14-17, 2017. The national champion will receive a $50,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership in the Society, including a subscription to National Geographic magazine, and an all-expenses paid trip to the Galápagos Islands aboard the new National Geographic Endeavour ll.
At the school Bees this year, students had to answer questions like these:
The North Platte and South Platte Rivers meet in which state-New Mexico or Nebraska?
Nebraska
Sea otters sometimes wrap themselves in kelp when resting to keep from drifting away. Sea otters can be found near eastern Russia in the Sea of Okhotsk in which ocean?
Pacific Ocean
The island of Mauritius [maw-RISH-uhs] in the Indian Ocean has multicolored sand dunes. It's weird, but it's true! Mauritius lies off the southeast coast of which continent that includes the Kalahari Desert?
Africa