For Immediate Release Contact: Barbara K. Laskin
March 30, 2004 Doug Stone
(651) 696-6203

Macalester Hosts 2004 MN State Geographic Bee Friday, April 2
101 Fourth - Eighth Graders Vie to go to Nationals in May

St. Paul, Minn. - The Minnesota State Geographic Bee Finals will once again be hosted by the Geography Department at Macalester College at 11:30 a.m., Friday, April 2, 2004, in the Concert Hall, Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, 1600 Grand Avenue, St. Paul, Minn.

The winner will represent Minnesota in Washington, D.C., at the National Geographic Bee, May 25-26, 2004. The event is sponsored by the National Geographic Society and ING, a global leader in financial products and services.

The 101 fourth through eighth graders from around the state will compete in the preliminary round beginning at 9:15 a.m., answering a variety of world geography questions from a panel of judges.

?The top ten students will advance to the final round, at 11:30 a.m., in the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center Concert Hall, which will be moderated this year by KARE-11 News Anchor Julie Nelson.

Students competing in the state finals are local Geographic Bee winners who took a written test in their schools earlier this winter.

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

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