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It was down to the final question between fifth-graders Theodore Jones and Dylan Sanderson in the 2008 Spring Hill Intermediate School geography bee, and Theodore just happened to remember something his teacher said in class.

A fact which cinched Theodore’s win.

That question was, “Mexico City is located on the site of Tenochtitlan, the island capital of what empire that was conquered by Spanish explorers in the 16th century?”

The answer: The Aztec Empire.

“For some reason, I remembered this from earlier in the year. I was really surprised that I remembered it from that far back,” Theodore said.

The loss to Theodore did not bother Dylan, who was still enthusiastic about getting so close to the big win in the bee Dec. 16. 

“I still got to get up in front of the whole school. I think it’s better to show knowledge than getting something nice like Student of the Month. I had stage fright, but the more I stayed up there the better it got,” Dylan said.

Theodore’s teacher, Marissa Cowan, said there was no set preparation for the geography bee.

“We teach geography, and they do learn in class as we go along, but there’s no real preparation for the bee,” she said.

“Theodore will take a multiple choice test to advance to the state level. As many as 100 highest-scoring tests will be selected. The first-place state winner advances to the national level,” she said.

The multiple-choice test isn’t easy, Vopat said.

“It starts with general questions but moves to pretty tough, challenging questions in seven areas,”  Vopat said.

Categories include U.S. geography, U.S. cities, U.S. city comparisons, odd items out, continents, world’s largest cities and cultural geography.

“Kids have to really enjoy geography to do well,” Vopat said.

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a guest: ...

I just want questions from 2008! common!

1

January 06, 2009

a guest: ...

nice job ted!

2

January 26, 2009