Hicks is Canaan’s geography champion

By Dean Shipley

Zach Hicks is eager to trot the globe to visit places he’s studied in geography. He is Canaan’s geography bee winner.

Zach Hicks was one wrong answer from elimination from the Canaan Middle School Geography Bee.

Fortunately for him, enough right answers preceded it and he emerged a champion.

The fifth-grader outlasted his nine competitors for the school title which was determined in an oral, double-elimination style test. The 10 contestants matched answers as a result of their scores on a written test to determine the school’s top 10 geography students.

Contestants were eliminated after they gave two wrong answers during the oral exam. His closest competitor was Max Gerckens, a sixth-grader.

An example of the questions include a group of islands in South America are claimed by Argentina and what other South American country? The islands are the Staten islands and are also claimed by Chile.

The next step is to determine a state champion. School champions such as Hicks will take a written test to determine who will attend the state bee on April 5.

Those state champions and a chaperone will be the guest of The National Geographic Society as it will provide an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C. May 20-22. The finals will be moderated by Jeopardy host, Alex Trebek.

A trip such as that would be fine for Hicks since his interest in travel drew him deeper into his study of geography. He would like to travel to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, countries in Europe, and the continent of Antarctica.

Cool.