Remember when New Zealand was in the news because it declared itself off-limits to nuclear submarines?
Ian King did. And he also guessed - a bit hesitantly, to be sure - that Africa is the continent, next to Antarctica, that is least urbanized.Ian's where-in-the world and what-in-the-world knowledge about geography won him the championship Friday in the 1989 Utah Geography Bee, sponsored by the National Geographic Society and World Magazine. The bee was held at Salt Lake Community College in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Utah Geographic Alliance.
Second to Ian, a Churchill Junior High School student, was Bill Evans of Vista Elementary School in Salt Lake City. Third place, arrived at by a run-off among five contestants who all fell out in the same round, went to J.C. Albretson, South Cache Middle School, Hyrum.
The winners, from first through third respectively, won checks for $100, $50 and $25, along with T-shirts, books and trophies.
The other six finalists were Patrick Wightman, Payson Junior High School; Jerilyn Mayer, Milford High School; Rachael Hammong, Vae View Elementary, Layton; Joel Stanton, Western Hills Elementary, Kearns; Patrick Thurman, Ensign Elementary, Salt Lake City; and Derik Tippets, Eisenhower Junior High School, Salt Lake City. Earlier in the day, a field of 100 students was trimmed to 10.
Ian will represent Utah in the national geography bee May 17-19 in Washington, D.C. He's been to the nation's capital before but hopes he might luck out and get to see the National Hockey League playoffs while he's there.
If he could go anywhere in the world, however, he said he'd head for the Soviet Union - a country where you could spend considerable time without seeing the same thing twice.
He hasn't made up his mind what he'll do after school but hopes it includes travel, whatever it is. Maybe he could scope out Pakistan, a country that has the most foreign refugees in the world. That was one of the few questions the 13-year-old missed on the way to the championship.
Judges for the bee were Wayne Walquist, Weber State College; Dale Stevens, Brigham Young University; Merrill Ridd, University of Utah; and Stephen Burnside, Jordan School District. Boone Colegrove of the Utah State Office of Education, asked the questions (and showed his Utah background when he called hurricanes "hurrakins," as in the popular pronunciation of the Utah town. He apologized).
The Utah Geographic Alliance also honored several educators and representatives of the Utah Department of Transportation Friday.
Outstanding elementary school geography teacher for 1989 is Diana Esplin, Cache District; outstanding secondary teachers, Janice Mayne, Alpine District, and Joe Spendlove, Granite District, who tied; outstanding elementary administrator, Chad Downs, Cache District; and outstanding secondary administrator, Scott Greenwell, Davis District.
A Special Recognization Award was presented to Arvin Crowther, chief cartographer for the Utah Department of Transportation, and James Johnston, community involvement officer for the department. They were honored for revising Utah's highway map to enhance geography studies of the state. The scale in the current map was changed in a way that helps students more easily calculate distances.
Johnston also was recognized for allowing students to make contributions to the current highway map. Students from Valley Junior High School in Granite District had an interest in the revision of the map and were allowed to make comments, some of which were incorporated into the finished map.