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commentPartha Narasimhan, a sixth grade student
from Mercer Middle School in Aldie, took first place in
the Virginia State Geography Bee and will now represent
the state in the National Geography Bee competition that
will be held in Washington D.C. on May 22 and May
23.
Partha wasn't the only LCPS student to excel
at the state bee in Norfolk. Tatiana Lozano, a seventh
grade student at J. Lupton Simpson Middle School came in
third place. And Yohan Sumathipala, who came in second
in the state last year, finished in the top 10
again.
Partha's victory earns him $100 and a
chance to compete for a $25,000 scholarship at the
national geography bee.
The National Geographic
Bee is a nationwide contest for schools for grades four
through eight. It is an educational program of the
National Geographic Society and is sponsored this year
by JPMorgan Chase. To qualify, students must win their
school geography bee then place in the top 100 across
the state on a qualifying test to compete at the state
level.
The championship round of the geography
bee will be moderated by Jeopardy game show host Alex
Trebek and will be held at National Geographic's
Washington, D.C. headquarters and will air on the
National Geographic Channel
According to national
bee organizers, the contest was created in 1989 in
response to a concern about the lack of geographic
knowledge among young people in the United States. A
study conducted by National Geographic and Roper Public
Affairs in 2006 showed that Americans aged 18 to 24
still have limited understanding of the world within and
beyond the nation's borders. According to a release from
the National Geographic Bee, one-third of respondents
could not locate Louisiana even after Hurricane Katrina
and almost half could not locate Mississippi on the U.S.
map. Only four out of 10 were able to find Iraq on a map
of the Middle East.
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