Sixth-Grader Captures Title in Geography Bee at Acacia Elementary

By knowing that most of Canada’s electricity is generated from water and that giant dinosaur fossils were discovered two years ago in the Sahara Desert, Whaed Gardezi became the Acacia Elementary School Geography Bee champion and now gets a shot at the statewide title.

The 11-year-old boy beat all his classmates in preliminary rounds that culminated in a tense contest Thursday, when nine finalists faced off.

“It was pretty breathtaking and a little scary,” said Whaed, a sixth-grader. “But it was fun and I think it proves that if you try hard enough, you can get first place.”

Whaed said he prepared for the competition by playing a computer geography game during the winter break.

The final round was staged in the school’s multipurpose room, with hundreds of peers looking on as competitors answered questions by pointing to specific places on a map and by writing down answers on clipboards.

Like Acacia, elementary schools throughout Orange County and across the country are staging geography bees as part of a nationwide competition that will award a $25,000 scholarship to the one who wins the national competition. First, however, winners of their school contests must take written geography exams.

Whaed will take his test on Monday. If he scores among the top 100 in the state, he will compete with the other top scorers face to face sometime this spring.

Whoever wins that bee gets $100 and a trip to Washington, D.C., where he or she will compete for the big scholarship.

The competition, sponsored by the National Geographic Society and the Sylvan Learning Center, aims to motivate children across the country to improve geographic knowledge, said Acacia fifth-grade teacher Kathy Kellerman.

“It’s a multicultural world now,” she said. “It’s important that we know about other countries and their cultures.”

Said Principal Georgia Menges: “I think that, as a nation, we really haven’t done a whole lot about teaching geography and we’re not as proficient as we should be, and yet the world is getting smaller communication-wise.”

The annual competition, which has been presented at Acacia for the past four years, has sparked more interest in teaching and learning the subject, Menges said.

In fact, she said, the school currently is developing a plan that will outline what students should know about geography at each grade level.

Britton Hill, 11, who was eliminated in the final round of competition, said geography has become one of her favorite subjects. “I like it,” she said.