There's no doubt that Rochester sixth-grader Lucas Eggers knows the answer to this question: Where is this year's National Geographic Bee being held?
Eggers is on his way to the nation's capital next month for a shot at the national title after he topped nearly 100 other competitors Friday in Minnesota's 26th annual National Geographic Bee at St. Cloud State University.
Eggers, who is home-schooled, turned away his final rival by correctly answering this question: "In the 1500s, sailors from the Basque region of Europe established a whaling station on the Strait of Belle Isle in what present-day country?"
Answer: Canada.
The runner-up, it turns out, had a clue to the right answer in the location of her school. Second place went to eighth-grader Maegan McMahon of St. John's School in Little Canada.
For his triumph, Eggers receives $100 and that all-expenses-paid trip to Washington to represent Minnesota in the national finals May 19-21 at National Geographic Society headquarters. Then in June, as part of a separate competition, he's off to Atlanta for the National History Bee.
First prize in the National Geographic Bee competition is a $50,000 college scholarship and lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society. Second- and third-place finishers receive $25,000 and $10,000 college scholarships, respectively.
Additionally, the national winner will travel (with one parent or guardian), all expenses paid, to the Galápagos Islands to experience geography firsthand through up-close encounters with the wildlife and landscapes of the islands on an expedition aboard the National Geographic Endeavour.
