Sample National Geographic geography bee questions:
1) The Otavalo Indians, who are known for their ponchos, blankets, and other woven goods, are native to which mountain range?
a) Sierra Nevada; b) Himalaya; c) Andes .
2) Amundsen, Scott, and Byrd all explored which continent?
a) South America; b) Australia; c) Antarctica
3) A New Year’s celebration known as Nowruz takes place in several countries, including an Asian country that borders the Caspian Sea and the Gulf of Oman. Name this country.
a) Qatar; b) Iran; c) Bhutan
4) What country has the third largest area?
A) US; B) Mexico; C) China.
5) In which Asian country would you find kabuki actors using music and colorful, elaborate costumes to tell a story?
a) Takikistan; b) Japan; c) Bangladesh.
ANSWERS: 1) c, 2) c, 3) b, 4) a, 5) b
MIDDLETOWN — He’s a bit uncomfortable to say it himself, but he’s been told he’s a pretty bright kid. His friends all love his hand-drawn comic books and on Friday, he’ll be representing Middletown in the National Geographic Society Ohio Geography Bee.
A.J. Mentel, a 13-year-old seventh grader at Middletown Middle School, recently won the school’s geographic bee over runner-up Jason Flory and third-place finisher J.J. Peil.
By winning the school title, Mentel was then entered in the National Geographic Society’s 70-question multiple-choice qualifying test. The top 100 test scorers among Ohio’s winning sixth, seventh and eighth graders then qualified for the state geography bee, which will be held Friday on The Ohio State University’s Mansfield campus.
“I finished seventh in the school last year when I took the geography bee,” Mentel said. “I guess I’m on a bit of a lucky streak this year.”
Rich Packert, the MMS geography bee coordinator, said there’s more than luck involved when it comes to Mentel’s success.
“He’s a very good student in all his classes and he does especially well in social studies. He’s definitely earned this,” Packert said.
Mentel said he’s been training with some geography books his teacher, Christine Pierett, has loaned him. Packert has also given him some past geography bee tests for Mentel to peruse.
“It’s really a wide-ranging test. The students will be asked about physical geography, cultural geography, land forms, people and populations ... it’s a pretty challenging test,” Packert said.
The state’s top-100 qualifiers will be randomly divided into groups of 10, and a champion will be determined from each group of competitors. Those 10 champs will then vie for the state championship.
While Mentel admitted to being a little nervous, he’s going into Friday’s contest with a goal to finish in the top-5 of his competition group.
“I hope I can finish at least fourth in my group,” he said. “But I know I’ll need to work hard to do it.”
Packert has run the Middletown geographic bee for the past 22 years. He believes Mentel is just the fourth Middletown student to advance to the state tournament from the school.
“We’re all very proud of him. He’ll represent our school quite well,” he said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2851 or jbombatch@coxohio.com.
About the Author