2007 - HIGHLIGHTS & ACHIEVEMENTS

Nathan Tappendorf Wins the 2007 Arizona State Geographic Bee

Friday, March 30, 2007, was a very exciting day for 6th grader, Nathan Tappendorf. He competed for the state title in the Arizona Geographic Bee at Arizona State University. There were 99 students at the 4th-8th grade competition. This was Nathan’s third time to qualify for the Arizona Geographic Bee. In 4th grade, he tied for 15th in the state, and last year, he won 3rd place. This year he brought home the championship title.

The bee began with the preliminary round, in which Nathan answered all eight of his questions correctly. Some of them were extremely difficult, such as, “What is the present-day name for the Asian trading port that was formerly known as Batavia while under the control of the Dutch East Indies Company?” (Jakarta)

There were only two students in the entire competition who scored a perfect 8. With this accomplishment, Nathan automatically qualified for the final round competition. Eleven students, who answered 7 out of 8 questions correctly, entered a tie-breaker to determine who the other eight finalists would be.

The final round was a double-elimination competition. In the first round of questions regarding states, seven students missed their questions, but Nathan answered his correctly. The second round of questions was about the European Union. All ten competitors answered these questions correctly. The third question required a written answer from all students: “Wood Buffalo National Park, home to the largest herd of bison in North America, is located in the Northwest Territories and which Canadian Prairie Province?” Only two contestants correctly answered Alberta. Nathan incorrectly answered Saskatchewan, his first and only miss. This question eliminated six of the ten finalists, leaving Nathan and two other contestants with one miss and one student with zero misses. The fourth round of questions was about United States physical geography, in which two students were eliminated. Nathan and Joseph Peterson both answered correctly and advanced to the championship round.

In the championship round, both finalists were asked the same questions and wrote their answers. The one who answered the most questions correctly would be the winner. Below are the championship questions for the 2007 Arizona Geographic Bee:

Question 1: The city of Los Angeles often experiences hot, dry winds that blow through a canyon with the same name. Give the name of the winds. (Santa Ana) Both Nathan and Joseph answered correctly.

Question 2: In August 2006, the city of Dire Dawa was flooded by the Dechatu River, killing over 300 people in what country located in the Horn of Africa? Nathan answered Ethiopia and Joseph answered Somalia. The correct answer was Ethiopia.

Question 3: The Jin Mao Tower, home to the world’s tallest hotel rooms, is located in the Pudong District in which East Asian city? Nathan answered Shanghai and Joseph answered Taipei. The correct answer was Shanghai.

The championship round score was Nathan-3 and Joseph-1.

NATHAN WON THE 2007 ARIZONA GEOGRAPHIC BEE!

Nathan will represent Arizona at the National Geographic Bee in Washington, D.C. on May 22-23, 2007.

Way to go, Nathan! We’re so proud of you!