The 2015 West Virginia Geographic Bee will be held on the Athens campus of Concord University Friday, March 27. Seventy students from cities and towns across The Mountain State will compete for the opportunity to represent West Virginia at the 27th annual National Geographic Bee being held in Washington, D.C. May 11-13, 2015. The competition is for students in the fourth through eighth grades.
After the preliminary rounds have been conducted, a tie breaker round will be held if needed at approximately 2:30 p.m. in the main theater of the Alexander Fine Arts Center.
The final competition and championship round will then be held in the main theater. The top three finishers will be recognized at the conclusion of the championship round.
The state bees are the second level of the annual National Geographic Bee. The first level began last November with school contests. Participants in Geo Bee competitions include millions of students from thousands of schools in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific territories, and the Department of Defense Dependents Schools.
While youngsters are competing at Concord on March 27, other students in grades four through eight will participate in state bees. Winners of these state competitions will advance to the national event.
This is the fifth year that Concord University has hosted the West Virginia Geographic Bee. Linda Poff is coordinator of West Virginia’s state bee. A graduate of Concord, Poff is also a retired Mercer County teacher and has served as an adjunct instructor in geography at Concord.
National Geographic developed the National Geographic Bee in 1989 in response to concern about the lack of geographic knowledge among young people in the United States. The Geo Bee is designed to encourage teachers to include geography in their classrooms, to spark student interest in the subject and to increase public awareness about geography.
Organized by the National Geographic Society, the 2015 National Geographic Bee is sponsored by Google. The state Bees are also sponsored by Plum Creek.
Each state winner will receive $100 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the national finals in May and the chance to be crowned the 27th National Geographic Bee champion.
First prize in the national competition is a $50,000 college scholarship and lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society. Second- and third-place finishers receive $25,000 and $10,000 college scholarships, respectively.
Additionally, the national winner will travel (with one parent or guardian), all expenses paid, to the Galápagos Islands to experience geography firsthand through up-close encounters with the wildlife and landscapes of the islands on an expedition aboard the National Geographic Endeavour.
Visit https://sites.google.com/site/westvirginiastatebee/ to learn more about the West Virginia State Bee.
Go to www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee/ for additional information on the National Geographic Bee. Visitors to the site can hone their geography skills with the GeoBee Challenge game at www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee/quiz/today/
