Global domination

PALMER — If you didn’t know what Indonesian country produces more lentils than its neighbors, you’re not alone. But for a group of bright local students who thrive on geographical knowledge, answers like these come easy.

On Friday, 100 student geography aces from across Alaska participated in the 2008 Alaska Geographic Bee at the Egan Center in Anchorage for a chance to compete in the national competition in May and put an extra $25,000 in the bank for college.

The five-hour geography competition, put on by the National Geographic Society, brought together representatives from state schools. Fourth- through eighth-grade students were placed into competing groups of 20 and answered difficult geography questions given by local moderators. The questions are the same in all 50 state bees and compiled by the National Geographic Society. For some, the questions caused serious brain overload.

Janet Blalock, a teacher from the Mat-Su Career and Technical High School, was one of the chosen moderators. She paused between each of the eight rounds and joked with parents about the difficulty level of the questions.

“I don’t know how you parents are feeling, but I’m feeling very stressed,” Blalock said. As each student stood for his or questions, parents mumbled in disbelief as one by one, round by round, Blalock revealed the answers that quickly separated those who had studied their maps and would move on to the next round.

For three hours, Blalock and other moderators went down their lists. Each student stood, listened and pondered — then dug deep for an answer.

• Which country shares its borders with more countries — Uruguay or Bolivia?

• What is the term for the part of an ocean or sea that cuts far into the bordering land mass and may contain one or more bays?

• To visit the ruins of Persepolis, an ancient ceremonial capital of Persia, you would have to travel to what present-day country?

Early preliminary rounds were broken into categories of questions, including world geography, physical geography, odd item out, cultural geography and geography in the news.

Kristin Seimann, a first-year moderator for the Alaska Geographic Bee, said the competition is more than a chance at a free ride through college, it means an opportunity to learn.

“The bee gives them a world view,” Seimann said. “This helps them gain confidence and encourages them to travel the globe.”

On the map

Brandon Watkins looked at his parents and shrugged . He had answered his question incorrectly. After eight rounds of questions during the preliminaries, he had answered all but two correctly.

Watkins said he is fortunate to even had made it to Anchorage. The sixth-grade student from Trapper Creek Elementary School said he got to the finals on a lucky streak to begin with.

“I was lucky. At my school, I answered just one question a fourth-grader couldn’t get,” he said. “I didn’t study as much, plus the books I was reading weren’t what I should have been reading, but oh well.”

Watkins said he expects he’ll be a scientist when he grows up, hoping to work with his favorite six-legged critter — the spider.

“Without spiders, the world would have to wear bug masks all the time,” he said.

Moving on

After a two-hour lunch, the morning winners returned a little more queasy than before.

Spencer Bloom sits nervously in his chair on the stage at Summit Hall at the Egan Center. His foot taps and his hands are clasped together as he looks around the room. This is it. The Academy Charter School eighth-grader from Palmer had made it to the finals with nine others.

Earlier in the day, Bloom had bulleted through the preliminary rounds with ease, answering seven of his eight questions correctly. Later he pushed through a rigorous tie-breaking round to win a seat in the finals. At the end of the day, he was ready to take on the globe.

An admitted “mapper,” Bloom said before the competition he rigorously studied his dad’s maps and books on world countries.

For Bloom, 14, winning is what he’s good at. A martial arts black belt, he said he is determined in other areas of his life as well, recently taking home two gold medals in the Alaska Tae Kwon Do Championships. He won his school geography bee a few months ago and was confident he’d be the one from Alaska to fly to Washington, D.C., in May.

“Studying isn’t my idea of fun,” Bloom said. “But I still studied every day for three and a half hours since December to get here, so it took a lot.”

Bloom’s father, Rick, said his involvement with Spencer’s studies was more than just checking to see if his homework got done.

“It’s a two-man job,” he said. “If you have that parental involvement, it gets you in the zone as well.”

At the podium during the finals, Bloom missed three of his final round questions. He had finished ninth overall. Unable to remember what city is home to the Sears Tower, Bloom sat down.

The crowd of supporting teachers and parents applauded his efforts.

Bloom said he wished he would have focused more on U.S. maps rather than all the foreign countries, but he was OK with his performance.

“It’s a lot of stuff,” he said. “You can study forever and still find new stuff you didn’t know before.”

Local finalist

Abraham Meyerhofer had been on the Summit Hall stage before. A four-year veteran of the Alaska Geographic Bee, the 14-year-old eighth-grader from Teeland Middle School knows the routine. In his last year of competition before heading off to high school, he knew this was his last chance to shine.

“Welcome to the final round,” said final moderator Dr. Mike Sfraga. “The tradition of the Alaska Geographic Bee runs deep, and now in our 20th year. In an interchanging world of war and peace, we are in a better position than ever to appreciate and become aware of the importance of geography.”

During the finals, Meyerhofer exudes surprising confidence. His mother, Karen, is a Larson Elementary School teacher, his dad an educator as well. Not to mention his sister, Marcella, was also competing in the bee.

Sfraga hands Meyerhofer a picture of a well-lit city at nights where the Eiffel Tower dominates the foreground. He approaches the microphone with a smile.

“Paris,” he proclaims. He knew he got an easy one.

“That is correct,” Sfraga said, as the room exploded with applause.

In no time, the 10 top students whittled down to just two: Meyerhofer and Thomas Lang, a Kodiak Middle School eighth-grader and bee first-timer.

The audience leaned in as Meyerhofer and Land listened to the questions carefully.

“What country is Danang a part of?” Sfraga asked. Lang answers Thailand; Meyerhofer chooses Vietnam. Meyerhofer picks up the point, but loses the next one to Lang.

One more question to go.

“Dragon’s Mouth and Serpent’s Mouth are separated by the island of Trinidad from which South American country?”

And with that question, Lang had won the Alaska Geographic Bee and a plane ticket to Washington.

For Meyerhofer, Venezuela will forever be on his mind.

“It was fun, but I was stupid,” he said. “I definitely want to travel some day and this has been a good ride for me.”

Meyerhofer said winning second place and many take-home prizes suits him fine. He said studying a lot of maps and the past geography bee questions helped him get a better understanding of the world around him and better prepare for the Alaska Geographic Bee. A science buff, he next plans to take on schools in the upcoming Valley Science Olympiad.

“I’m glad I came,” he said. “But I’m going to kick myself for a few days.”

Eleven students from the Mat-Su Valley participated in the Alaska Geographic Bee at the Egan Center Friday. They are Kevin Christopher, Palmer Middle School; Garrett Banner, Wasilla Middle School; Spencer Bloom, Academy Charter School; Blake Brazil, Valley Christian School; Brianna Burgess, Midnight Sun Charter; Abraham Meyerhofer, Teeland Middle School; Marcella Meyerhofer, Larson Elementary School; Miranda Roub, Glacier View School; Darian Stengrim, Iditarod Elementary School; Jonathan Stogdill, correspondence study; and Brandon Watkins, Trapper Creek Elementary.

Contact J.J. Harrier at valleylife@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.