GEO BEE
The Geo Bee – The National Geographic Bee
Geo bee is organized in United States of America by National Geography Society every year. Nearly 5 million students started in the Geography Bee 2013, after state and local competitions, 5 million students were whittled down to the top 54, and then the top 10. Students of four to eight grades are eligible for this competition; thousands of public schools participate in this bee every year.
Purpose of the program is to promote and encourage the teaching and study of the geography. All participants must be enrolled in a school or home-school association and must be younger than 15 years. These participants get chance to participate for 5 times in the Geo Bee. Schools from all 50 U.S. states, the U.S. territories, and the U.S. Department of Defense participate in the National Geographic Bee.
This competition starts at the school level, where school teacher conduct the competition according to the guidelines provided by geography society and send the answer sheets for evaluation to the National Geographic bee Washington D.C. Each school get one winner and this winner from each school complete in state level competition in late March or early April. State winners finally compete in the national level competition and winners awarded for scholarships in the amount of $50,000, $15,000 and $10,000.
Winner of 2013 Geo Bee Sathwik Karnik was awarded with $25,000 college scholarship, an all-expenses paid trip to the Galapagos Islands, and a life time membership to the National Geographic Society. Competitors also get the chance to compete on the behalf of the United States in an international geographic competition.
Surprisingly enough 50% of the participants in the final Geo Bee were of Indian nationality.
Winner of National champions get opportunity to participate in National Geographic World Championship. 2013 World championship held in the Russian Geographical Society headquarters in St.Petersburgh Russia was won by US. Total of 17 countries participated in the competition and Canada won the second place.
Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqnt5h2DGEo
National Geographic website provides all the necessary information regarding Geo Bee for parents and teachers. It also provides vast amount of educational information, guidance for students to prepare for the contest, what topics should they study? Where to start from? And so on.
Study of geography reveals wonders of the world to students as well as teachers and parents. It’s always overwhelming to discover the planet we live on. All school must give it a try. Parents can also inform school about this completion and open a door of opportunity for their kids. This competition and entire journey of Geo Bee is an experience in itself.
For more details visit:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee/frequently-asked-questions/
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee/world-championship-photos/
