For Immediate Release Contact: Barbara K. Laskin
February 5, 2004 Doug Stone
(651) 696-6203

Kids Celebrate Geography at
Annual Minnesota State Geographers' Fair - February 7

St. Paul, Minn. - Approximately 200 Minnesota grade school and middle school children will demonstrate their knowledge of world geography at the 2004 Minnesota State Geographers' Fair, Saturday, February 7, 2004, 9 a.m. to noon, at the Science Museum of Minnesota, Discovery Hall, 120 West Kellogg Boulevard, St. Paul, MN.

Students from kindergarten - 8th grades will bring individual, small group or whole class projects to the Fair. Many of the projects such as dioramas, charts, electrically wired answer boards, graphs, videos and presentations have been selected from other geography fairs at individual schools. Geography educators, and Macalester College Geography Department faculty and students will evaluate the projects.

This year's participating schools include:
Calvin Christian Schools (Blaine and Edina)
Olson Middle School (Bloomington)
Cleveland Public School (Cleveland, Minn.)
St. Raphael School (Crystal)
St. Thomas Academy (Mendota Heights)
Cooper (Minneapolis)
Field Middle School (Minneapolis)
Sunny Hollow (New Hope)
New London-Spicer (New London)
Adams Spanish Immersion (St. Paul)
Four Seasons A+ (St. Paul)
Frost Lake Magnet School (St. Paul)
Hancock (St. Paul)
Highland Catholic (St. Paul)
Monroe Community School (St. Paul)
Ramsey Jr. High (St. Paul)
St. Anthony Park (St. Paul)

The event is hosted by the Science Museum of Minnesota and sponsored by
The Minnesota Alliance for Geographic Education (MAGE) and the Macalester
College Geography Department. MAGE, an organization of educators and
professionals who share a commitment to quality education and the expansion of geography education, is coordinated by Macalester geography Professor David Lanegran. In addition to student activities, the Alliance also sponsors numerous geography workshops and institutes for K-12 teachers

Macalester is a private liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 1,810 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, diversity and service to society.