Test your geography prowess and see if you could answer these questions without your smart phone and within 10 seconds.
In the newest Star Wars movie, “The Force Awakens,” desert scenes of the fictional planet Jakku were filmed in a country that borders both Oman and Saudi Arabia. Name this country on the Persian Gulf.
What about this question?
Fans can join holograms of ABBA, a 1970s rock band, at a museum in which major Scandinavian city located at the mouth of Lake Malarian?
These were the two questions, eighth grade Floyd Dryden student Benjamin Ng answered correctly at the State of Alaska Geography Bee to win his second state title over his Anchorage opponent Zachary Teaford.
The National Geography Bee was held in Anchorage at the Egan Center on April 1. The correct answers to the above questions are the United Arab Emirates and Stockholm, respectively. So how does a student who was born in 2002, know about the 70’s band ABBA?
“I read a lot,” Ng said.
Ng is the fourth Alaskan to win back-to-back titles in the contest’s 28 year history. He is also the second student from Juneau to win the overall state title. The first Juneau student was Ryan Wetherell in 2003.
This was the fourth state geography bee Ng has attended. Ng didn’t purposely seek out to participate in the Geo Bee when he was a fourth grade student at Auke Bay Elementary School.
“I thought it was about geology, not geography,” he said.
However, he knew enough geography to win his school’s bee and qualify for the state bee. He didn’t do very well that year, but came back to Juneau with a mission to get into the top ten finals the following year. He was able to accomplish this in fifth grade only to be eliminated in a tie for seventh place. Unfortunately, he had to skip a year to partake again, as Floyd Dryden didn’t participate in the bee when he was in sixth grade. Ng’s mother Leanne persuaded the school to sign up for it in 2015 and he went on to win the state title as a seventh grader.
As the winner of the state Geo Bee, Ben will enjoy an all expense paid trip to Washington D.C. to participate in the national event during the last week of May. The winner of the National Geography Bee receives a $50,000 scholarship, a lifetime subscription to National Geographic magazine, a Galápagos trip for two and $500 cash. The 2nd place winner receives a $25,000 scholarship and $500 cash. The third place winner receives a $10,000 scholarship and $500 cash. The fourth-tenth place winners receive $500 cash each.
Some highlights from his trip last year were going on a Segway tour of D.C., exploring the subway system, eating ice cream at Vice President Biden’s house at the Naval Observatory Center, touring the Capitol Building, making new friends in which he is still in contact with and spending a half an hour with Don Young at his office.
“He is an interesting guy – quizzing me on geography and about other things.” Ng stated. This year the Bee has arranged for the kids to watch a National’s game against the Mets.
This will be Ng’s last year at the Bee as it is only open to fourth-eighth graders. The Juneau School District had seven other students qualify for the State Bee held at the Egan Center. They were fifth graders Lake Bartlett (Gastineau Elementary School), David Buck (Riverbend Elementary School), Hilary Nguyen (Glacier Valley Elementary School), Will Woolford (Harborview Elementary School) and Jack Schwarting (Auke Bay); sixth grade participants were Darin Tingey (Dzantik’I Heeni Middle School) and Cody Kesselring (Montessori Borealis Public School).
The National Geography Championship will be held May 23-25, 2016 in Washington, D.C. The final round will be televised on the National Geographic Channel, May 27, 2016 at 8 p.m. EST, and later on public television stations nationwide.
