Post by Charity on Apr 3, 2006 12:35:15 GMT -5
Homeschooled Geographic bee winner
Geographic bee winner put old magazines to good use
By Katie Kerwin Mccrimmon, Rocky Mountain News
April 1, 2006
Autumn Hughes has traveled outside the U.S. only in books, but her knowledge of the world earned her the state title at the Colorado Geographic Bee on Friday.Autumn is only the second girl to win Colorado's geography bee in its 18-year history. The 12-year-old sixth-grader, who is home schooled in Wheat Ridge, never missed a question in the final round to best 99 contestants from throughout the state.
When the bee was down to the final two students, Autumn cruised to victory by easily answering all three championship questions. Like a veteran meteorologist, she knew that the ocean current that mixes with the warmer Gulf Stream to create fog along New England's coast is called the Labrador Current.
And she easily came up with Taiwan in answer to a question about where Typhoon Haitang flooded streets and shut down cities last July. The final stumper? Where have severe unemployment and fuel shortages paralyzed a country east of Botswana? Zimbabwe, of course.
Placing second was Alex Paul, of Loveland. Nicholas Green, of Parker, took third.
Autumn won a half scholarship to the University of Denver, worth more than $30,000, and a trip to Washington, D.C. in May to compete in the National Geographic Bee.
Autumn has loved geography since she was little and used to study world maps her parents hung on the walls. In the week before the bee, she said she studied up to three hours a day, reading old copies of National Geographic and following current events in newspapers.
She said home schooling has stoked her love of learning.
"It's given me more of a chance to discover what I'm interested in and more of a chance to explore," Autumn said. "I'd like to go into politics, travel, be in the Peace Corps and have a family someday."
Her travel plans include someday visiting New Zealand and Nepal. But she's never been to the nation's capital and grinned over the prospect of a trip there.
In addition to geography, Autumn loves playing violin and is studying French. Winning runs in her family. Her brother, Tyler, 15, won the high school state chess championship in February.
"Can you imagine arguing with these kids about bedtime," joked their father, Ralph Hughes, a data consultant. Autumn's mother, Carole Hughes, a full-time mother and educator, said her children steer their own education. "They want to learn things because they want to be well-educated," she said.
Test your geographic IQ
Questions from the finals of the 2006 Colorado Geographic Bee
• 1. Arenal, an active volcano located in a country that borders Panama, erupted in 1968 after 400 years of dormancy. Name the country and locate it on a map.
• 2. Copenhagen is to Denmark as Bamako is to WHAT?
• 3. Tikal is to Guatemala as Machu Picchu is to WHAT?
• 4. Prince Edward Island lies on the gulf that borders five Canadian provinces. Name this gulf.
• 5. Each year, wildebeests migrate from Tanzania across the Mara River into which neighboring country to the northeast?
• 6. Knesset, the Hebrew word for "assembly" is the name for the Israeli Parliament. In which city does the Knesset meet?
www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4588151,00.html
Geographic bee winner put old magazines to good use
By Katie Kerwin Mccrimmon, Rocky Mountain News
April 1, 2006
Autumn Hughes has traveled outside the U.S. only in books, but her knowledge of the world earned her the state title at the Colorado Geographic Bee on Friday.Autumn is only the second girl to win Colorado's geography bee in its 18-year history. The 12-year-old sixth-grader, who is home schooled in Wheat Ridge, never missed a question in the final round to best 99 contestants from throughout the state.
When the bee was down to the final two students, Autumn cruised to victory by easily answering all three championship questions. Like a veteran meteorologist, she knew that the ocean current that mixes with the warmer Gulf Stream to create fog along New England's coast is called the Labrador Current.
And she easily came up with Taiwan in answer to a question about where Typhoon Haitang flooded streets and shut down cities last July. The final stumper? Where have severe unemployment and fuel shortages paralyzed a country east of Botswana? Zimbabwe, of course.
Placing second was Alex Paul, of Loveland. Nicholas Green, of Parker, took third.
Autumn won a half scholarship to the University of Denver, worth more than $30,000, and a trip to Washington, D.C. in May to compete in the National Geographic Bee.
Autumn has loved geography since she was little and used to study world maps her parents hung on the walls. In the week before the bee, she said she studied up to three hours a day, reading old copies of National Geographic and following current events in newspapers.
She said home schooling has stoked her love of learning.
"It's given me more of a chance to discover what I'm interested in and more of a chance to explore," Autumn said. "I'd like to go into politics, travel, be in the Peace Corps and have a family someday."
Her travel plans include someday visiting New Zealand and Nepal. But she's never been to the nation's capital and grinned over the prospect of a trip there.
In addition to geography, Autumn loves playing violin and is studying French. Winning runs in her family. Her brother, Tyler, 15, won the high school state chess championship in February.
"Can you imagine arguing with these kids about bedtime," joked their father, Ralph Hughes, a data consultant. Autumn's mother, Carole Hughes, a full-time mother and educator, said her children steer their own education. "They want to learn things because they want to be well-educated," she said.
Test your geographic IQ
Questions from the finals of the 2006 Colorado Geographic Bee
• 1. Arenal, an active volcano located in a country that borders Panama, erupted in 1968 after 400 years of dormancy. Name the country and locate it on a map.
• 2. Copenhagen is to Denmark as Bamako is to WHAT?
• 3. Tikal is to Guatemala as Machu Picchu is to WHAT?
• 4. Prince Edward Island lies on the gulf that borders five Canadian provinces. Name this gulf.
• 5. Each year, wildebeests migrate from Tanzania across the Mara River into which neighboring country to the northeast?
• 6. Knesset, the Hebrew word for "assembly" is the name for the Israeli Parliament. In which city does the Knesset meet?
www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4588151,00.html