Local boy competes in geography bee

A Sequoia Middle School eighth-grader competed in the statelevel 2008 National Geographic Bee earlier this month, falling just short of making it to the national contest.

Kirklann Lau was one of 100 students who took part in the bee in Sacramento on April 4. The students were split into five groups of 20 for the preliminary round. After getting all eight questions correct, Kirklann moved on to the next level.

"I went on to the actual contest on the main stage," Kirklann said. "There were 31 people, more than ever before because a lot of people got perfect scores. From there we battled."

Once the top 10 were singled out, Kirklann said the contest became even more challenging.

"It went on for a long time until somehow I survived and made it to the championship round with Nik (Nikhil Desai of the Challenger School in Newark)," Kirklann said. "They asked him and me the same questions in a tie-breaking round, about 17 or 18 questions. On the last question if we both would have answered it right, we probably both would have gone to Washington, D.C., but I got it wrong."

Kirklann said he doesn't have any regrets.

"I was happy I even made it that far," he said.

The 100 fourth to eighthgrade students from California competed in California's bee the same day that bees in the other 49 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories held their own competitions.

Kirklann first qualified for the state competition when he competed in a schoolwide contest in November.

"In our constantly evolving world, geographic fluency is more important than ever in helping young people put events and places in context," said John Fahey, president of the National Geographic Society. "National Geographic is committed to geography education and to helping young people understand and appreciate the world they live in so that they can become informed and responsible caretakers of the planet."

The National Geographic Society developed the National Geographic Bee in 1989 in response to the lack of geographic knowledge among students in the United States. A National Geographic-Roper Public Affairs study showed that 18 to 24yearolds had a "limited understanding of the world within and beyond our country's borders." Only four out of 10 were able to find Iraq on a map of the Middle East.

Kirklann said his lifelong love of maps and a lot of studying contributed to his success in the competition.

"I've always liked maps," Kirklann said. "Since I was little I liked pointing out countries on maps and I liked drawing fake maps of fake land."

For more information, visit www.nationalgeographic.com.