Kevin C Ni, an 11th-grade student from Salt Lake's Skyline High School, matched his travel geography wits against students from across Utah to take home the state title in the fourth-annual AAA Travel High School Challenge.
This May, Kevin will travel to Orlando, Fla., to compete in the national finals for a chance at the national title, a $25,000 college scholarship and additional prizes.
"With surveys showing American teens trailing their international counterparts in geographic literacy, it's great to see students like Kevin excel in travel and geographic knowledge," said Rolayne Fairclough, spokesperson for AAA Utah. "He will next compete with some of the nation's brightest students during the national finals in Orlando."
The AAA Travel High School Challenge aims to increase teens' travel knowledge and geographic literacy while creating awareness of career opportunities in the travel and tourism industries.
Ni says his interest in geography is natural since his grandfather is a distinguished high school geography teacher and author of geography textbooks in China. From an early age, Ni says he was encouraged by his father to listen to the news and to read atlases. As an eighth-grade student, he was the state winner of the National Geographic Bee and traveled to the national contest.
More than 50,000 ninth- through 12th-grade students registered across the country for the online portion of the competition. Ni placed among the top five scorers in Utah and went on to receive the highest score on a 40-question written, proctored exam taken by the five state finalists.
The finals will be held May 13-16, at Universal Orlando and will begin with a written elimination exam, followed by a series of round-robin, game show-style playoffs and elimination rounds. The national champion will receive a $25,000 college scholarship. Second- and third-place winners will receive $15,000 and $10,000 scholarships, respectively.