For the Glory of Geography
This morning, the finals of the National Geographic Bee were held at NG headquarters here in Washington, D.C., as once again, the capital city became the site of a middle school brain drain. So, am I smarter than a 10-yr-old (the youngest age of the Bee finalists)? Well, let’s find out. The final question was: Timiş County
shares its name with a tributary of the Danube
and is located in the western part of which European country? My answer: No clue! Well okay, I could make an educated guess. Hungary? The correct response: Romania. Looks like this college grad’s knowledge of world geography pales in comparison to the arsenal those whiz kids are packin’!
The Bee was entertaining and enlightening, as any event hosted by quiz show legend Alex Trebek is destined to be. For instance, when questioned as to why he failed to qualify for the 2008 finals following a berth in 2007, Kennen Sparks of Utah matter-of-factly replied to Trebek–whose greatest accomplishment of the morning was pronouncing the contestants’ names correctly, mind you–“I got nervous.” Good answer!
