FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
INDIANAPOLIS — The 2015 Indiana Geographic Bee will take place Friday, March 27, at Lecture Hall, 325 University Blvd., on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus.
The top 106 students from Geographic Bees held among fourth- through eighth-graders at schools throughout the state will compete in the event, which is free and open to the public.
Sample questions include:
- A series of dams links multiple islands and prevents flooding from the North Sea in which European country? (Answer: Netherlands)
- Which state name is not of Spanish origin: Montana, Michigan or Nevada? (Answer: Nevada)
The state winner will receive $100 and a trip to Washington, D.C., to represent Indiana in the National Geographic Bee finals May 12 to 14 at the National Geographic Society headquarters.
Registration for the state competition takes place from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. March 27.
During registration, the IUPUI Center for Earth and Environmental Science invites anyone interested to tour a traveling exhibit featuring a trailer full of geographic activities and learning experiences. IUPUI Campus/Community Outreach staff will also be available during registration to answer questions about the IUPUI campus and its degree programs.
The Indiana Geographic Bee competition opens with a welcome at 12:30 p.m., followed by preliminary rounds at 1:15 p.m. A second round to determine the final 10 competitors starts at 2:50 p.m. The final round begins at 3:15 p.m. with Sam Graves, of IUPUI’s “Consider This” intellectual and global affairs TV program, as moderator.
The national Geographic Bee champion will receive a $50,000 college scholarship and lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society. The national winner will also travel, along with one parent or guardian, all expenses paid, to the Galápagos Islands, where the student will experience geography firsthand through up-close encounters with the islands’ unique wildlife and landscapes.
Geography Educators’ Network of Indiana organizes the state-level bee
State bees are sponsored by Google and Plum Creek.