Salem Middle School crowns National Geographic Geography Bee champion

Julia Casey, an eighth grade student at Salem Middle School, won the school-level competition of the National Geographic Geography Bee and moved one step closer to a $50,000 college scholarship.  The school bee, at which students answered questions on geography, was the first round in the 30th Annual National Geographic Bee, a geography competition designed to inspire and reward students’ curiosity about the world. 

Thousands of schools around the United States and in the five U.S. territories are participating in the 2018 National Geographic Bee.  The school champions, including Julia Casey, will take a qualifying test; up to 100 of the top scorers on that test in each state will then be eligible to compete in their state Bee on April 6. 

The National Geographic Society will provide an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C., for state winners to participate in the bee national championship rounds May 20-23.  The first place 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 Lindblad expedition to the Galapagos Islands aboard the new National Geographic Endeavour II.  Travel for the trip is provided by Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic.  Second- and third-place finishers will receive $25,000 and $10,000 college scholarships, respectively.

National Geographic will air the final round of the National Geographic Bee Championship in May.  It will air late on public television stations; check local television listings for dates and times.

Everyone can test their geography knowledge with the exciting Geo Bee Quiz, an online geography quiz at www.nationalgeographic.org/bee/study/quiz.  

Examples of National Geographic Bee questions are:

1. The Appalachian Mountains run through which state – Georgia or Mississippi?

2. The North Platte and South Platte Rivers meet in which state – New Mexico or Nebraska?

3. Which state straddles the Tropic of Cancer – Hawaii or Alaska?

4. Which form of mass production was used by Henry Ford to produce automobiles in large quantities in Detroit, Michigan – Threshing Machine or Assembly Line?

5. What is the term for the physical location where a plant or animal lives – Habitat or Pattern?

6. Which country does NOT contain large areas of desert – Chad, Venezuela, or Iraq?

7. Public steam baths called hammams are part of the culture in cities such as Casablanca and Marrakech in which African country?

8. The Delmarva Peninsula includes parts of Delaware, Virginia, and which other state?

9. The easternmost part of the Horn of Africa is located in which country?

10. Angkor Wat, built as a tribute to Hinduism, is located in which Southeast Asian country where Buddhism now predominates?

Answers:

Georgia, Nebraska, Hawaii, Assembly Line, Habitat, Venezuela, Morocco, Maryland, Somalia, Cambodia