Press Release

Contact:
Doug Stone or Barbara Laskin
651-696-6203

Macalester Hosts 2008 MN State Geographic Bee Friday, April 4th
101 Fourth – Eighth Graders Vie to go to Nationals in May

St. Paul, Minn. - April 2 -- The Minnesota State Geographic Bee Finals will once again be at Macalester College at 11:30 a.m., Friday, April 4th, in the Concert Hall, Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, 1600 Grand Avenue, St. Paul, Minn.  The winner will receive $100 and represent Minnesota in Washington, D.C., at the National Geographic Bee, May 20-21, 2008.

The national winner will receive a $25,000 college scholarship and lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society. Second and third-place finishers will receive $15,000 and $10,000 college scholarships. The National Geographic state event is sponsored by Plum Creek.

One hundred one fourth through eighth graders from schools around 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 school Geographic Bee winners who took a written test in their schools earlier this winter. In each of the 50 states and in the territories, the National Geographic Society invited the students with the top 100 scores to compete at the state level.

Macalester College, founded in 1874, is a national liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 1,873 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, diversity and civic engagement.

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Geographic Bee winners will be available for interviews from 12:30 - 1 p.m.