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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — In a game show-style competition, 10 Louisiana students struggled Friday through advanced geography questions that went far beyond lists of state capitals, seeking a spot in the National Geographic Bee.
The head-to-head quiz designed by National Geographic could have left many adults scratching their heads. Children were asked to link towns to their states, match African countries to their former colonial masters and identify border-sharing countries.
Even the state bee coordinator, Jay Grymes, WAFB-TV meteorologist who has a master's degree in geography, admitted the questions were intense.
"I couldn't get half of these questions right," he said.
National Geographic has asked the media to leave out specific questions since state geographic bees are still taking place. However, here are some sample questions from last year:
.Which capital city, located about 20 miles from the Adriatic Sea, is a major industrial center for Albania?
.What country is bordered by Thailand and Cambodia?
.The Sea of Azov borders Ukraine and what other country?
Questions like those were asked first in a preliminary round to whittle down 72 competitors to 10. The 10 best scorers, two of whom got all preliminary questions right, went on to answer more questions on stage.
After rare tie-breaker round, 14-year-old Benjamin Link took first place after correctly answering a question about ancient Persia.
His win came just in time, since this was the last year Link qualified for the bee. Link, of St. Andrew's Episcopal School in New Orleans, has competed in the state bee since the 5th grade and has dreamed of one day making it to the nationals.
"I'm so excited!" he said.
He will compete in May against students from across the country, for a chance to win $50,000.
The National Geographic Bee started after a survey of adults around the world found Americans are woefully lacking in geographic knowledge.
"Some couldn't even find North America on the map," explained Lisa Walker, program manager for the bee.
The National Geographic Society hopes to improve the country's geography skills by holding the bee for 4th through 8th graders.
Twelve-year-old Luke Andel, of Isidore Newman School in New Orleans, won second place and had a blast doing it. He said the great part about geography is it never ends. "There's always something new to learn," he said.
In third place was 14-year-old Cecile Gerard, of Bishop Noland Episcopal Day School in Lake Charles.
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