A Utah student placed fifth in the National Geography Bee on Thursday.
Robert Ricks, 14, from Meridian School in Provo, had an advantage because he traveled to 40 of the 50 states and to 14 foreign countries - and has lived in Israel and Ireland."Traveling got me interested in geography," Ricks said, "I got to see things firsthand."
Becoming a finalist wasn't easy. Ricks, the only contestant in his group wearing a coat and tie, competed against 57 other state-level winners representing the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense schools and five U.S. territories.
On Thursday, he and nine other finalists battled it out for the top prizes. The first three prizes were college scholarships of $25,000, $15,000, and $10,000 plus interest. Ricks won $500 for his fifth-place showing.
Some of the questions he answered Wednesday and Thursday include:
The cost of this west African country is known as the Gold Cost. What is this country? (Ghana)
- The Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity was centered in what eastern Mediterranean city? (Istanbul)
- In plate tectonics, when plates slide on tectonic slides or dive beneath another tectonic plate, what is this is called? (subduction)
- The worst postal strikes since World War II were in what country? (Germany)
- The country in Central America that boasts of having the highest literacy rate and the most teachers is? (Costa Rica)
"The world events part was the hardest," Ricks said. "I didn't have a clue on a lot of those questions."
Rick's father, Stephen, a professor of Asian and Near Eastern Languages at Brigham Young University, has traveled worldwide for his field of study.
The family has also traveled widely because Stephen Ricks was an associate director at the BYU Jerusalem Center and received grants to study around the world.
Ricks received an all-expense-paid trip to Washington D.C. with his teacher escort, Vicki Perry, for winning the state competition.
"I had total confidence in him. He worked so hard. We studied everything from cook books to learn about the different spices that countries eat, we studied languages and landforms, and anything that applies to geography," Perry said.
Ricks said he has studied from four to five hours a day since the state competition on March 27.
Four of Ricks five brothers and sisters and his parents were able to accompany him to Washington D.C. for the competition thanks to the Huntsman Chemical Corp.