FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
INDIANAPOLIS — Thomas Gatewood, an eighth grader from Western Middle School of Russiaville, took top honors at the 2015 Indiana state-level Geographic Bee held today at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
“The contest and studying for it is an enjoyable experience,” said Gatewood, who studies maps and watches news shows, scouring for information he can use to build his knowledge of U.S. and world geography.
This year was Gatewood’s third trip to the state level competition. He placed second in the 2014 bee.
Ben Foley of Tri-North Middle School in Bloomington, and Zelton Kay of Brown County Junior High School of Nashville, placed second and third respectively in the Indiana Geographic Bee.
As state winner, Gatewood will receive $100 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to represent Indiana in the national finals of the Bee at National Geographic Society headquarters, May 12 to 14. The National Geographic Bee is organized by the National Geographic Society. This year’s state sponsors are Google and Plum Creek.
The state bee is organized by Geography Educators Network of Indiana, based at IUPUI. GENI will post pictures of the winners, along with other information on the bee, after 6 p.m. today at http://www.iupui.edu/~geni/ .