The New Mexico Geographic Bee to be held on April 1st, 2016, at the National Dance Institute, 4800 Central Avenue SE. The National Geographic Society’s Geographic Bee is a much-anticipated, grade school event held annually. Students throughout New Mexico from fourth through eighth grades participate in this renowned competition. The top 100 Bee winners are selected to attend the New Mexico Geographic Bee. The winner of the state Bee is awarded $100.00 and a trip to the National Geographic Bee held in Washington, D.C. in May. The second and third place contestants also receive $75.00 and $50.00 awards. The National Winner is awarded a $50,000 scholarship and a trip to the Galapagos Islands. An adventure of a lifetime!
This event provides the youth of New Mexico with an excellent opportunity for personal growth through competition with their peers while demonstrating their knowledge of geography. This is a very challenging competition that requires dedication and hard work from all the children that participate. In addition, many dedicated volunteers work hard to ensure the quality of the competition. Knowledge of geography feeds a curiosity that leads the children to solid citizenship by nurturing their deep care for our planet. This event allows us to encourage extraordinary young people who have put forth a great deal of effort to prepare for this competition.
Lakshay Sood, the 2016 New Mexico GeoBee winner, won the first year he entered as a 4th grader. And he answered every question correctly, not one miss! He was the youngest participant to be sent to Washington D.C. last year. Attached is a link to the video Lakshay had to produce for the national competition. Lakshay scored the highest in his video challenge. Each finalist was given this challenging question-” If you had a special power to change something in the world and make it a better place what would it be? “ Lakshay selected the power of persuasion to help with global warming! His video got the highest score of 6/6 in addition to the finalist (state champion) from Rhode Island who also got a score of 6/6. Both of them didn’t make it to top ten. But remember, Lakshay was also the youngest student. To see his video please click the link below:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee/top-10-finalists-2015/
This event is open to the public. Please consider coming to the National Dance Institute and support the future of New Mexico and our Nation. You are invited to show up at 10:00 am on Friday, April 1st, National Dance Institute, 4800 Central Avenue NE, Albuquerque, and stay through the Final and Championship rounds. You are guaranteed to learn something new and take away a new respect for the children, parents, educators, and volunteers who make this competition possible.