Geography Bee Winner May Win $50,000 Scholarship

Katherine Estes, a fifth-grade student at Della Davidson Elementary School, won the school-level competition of the National Geographic Bee on Jan. 8, and a chance at a $50,000 college scholarship.
The runner-up in the competition was fifth-grade student Mikali Robinson. The school-level Bee, at which students answered oral questions on geography, was the first round in the 26^th annual National Geographic Bee. This year’s Bee is sponsored by Google.
The kickoff for this year’s Bee was the week of November 11, with thousands of schools around the United States and in the five U.S. territories participating. The school-level winners, including Katherine Estes, will now take a written test; up to 100 of the top scorers of that test in each state will then be eligible to compete in their state bee April 4, 2014.
The National Geographic Society will provide an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for state champions and teacher-escorts to participate in the national championship roundsMay 19-21, 2014. The first-place national winner will receive a $50,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership in the Society, and a trip to the Galapagos Islands, courtesy of Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic.
Award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien will moderate the national finals on May 21. The program will air on television, and those interested can check local listings for dates and times.
Everyone can test their geography knowledge with the exciting GeoBee Challenge, an online geography quiz at www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee, which poses 10 new questions a day, or by downloading the “National Geographic GeoBee Challenge” app, with more than 1,000 questions culled from past Geographic Bees, from the App store on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad; from the Android market; or for Nook Color.
The National Geographic Society is one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Its mission is to inspire people to care about the planet. Founded in 1888, the Society is member-supported and offers a community for members to get closer to explorers, connect with other members and help make a difference. The Society reaches more than 450 million people worldwide each month through National Geographic and other magazines, the National Geographic Channel, television documentaries, music, radio, films, books, DVDs, maps, exhibitions, live events, school publishing programs, interactive media, and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 10,000 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program promoting geographic literacy. For more information, visit www.nationalgeographic.com.
For more information on Della Davidson Elementary School, visit www.oxfordsd.org/DDES.