Congratulations to Caitlin
Snaring!
Redmond 14 Year Old
Homeschooler wins National Geography Bee
WASHINGTON (AP) - What city, divided by
a river of the same name, was the imperial capital of Vietnam?
The answer to this question - Hue - won 14-year-old Caitlin
Snaring from Redmond, Wash., a $25,000 college scholarship
Wednesday at the 19th annual National Geographic Bee. Caitlin is
only the second girl to win in the bee's history.
"I don't know why more girls aren't interested in geography,"
she told reporters after winning the championship round. "I
wanted a girl winner this year."
This was Caitlin's second time representing Washington state at
the competition which challenges 10-to-14-year-old knowledge of
geography, culture and geology. Last year she was eliminated in
the preliminary round. Her father, David Snaring, said she
started studying for the 2007 bee the day after her loss. She
even studied while attending her brother's baseball games, he
said.
This time around, Caitlin did not miss a single question in two
days of intense competition.
During her introductory banter with the bee's moderator,
"Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek, Caitlin revealed that her other
passion is studying the history of pottery and making ceramic
replicas. Recently, her interests have been particularly
captured by Greek and Minoan pottery, she said.
Besides her father, Caitlin was joined by her mother, Traci
Snaring, and 13-year-old brother, Carl. Her grandmothers, Selma
Snaring and Betty Hedge, also attended.
Suneil Iyer, 12, from Olathe, Kan., came in second. He won a
$15,000 college scholarship. Third-place contestant, Mark
Arildsen, 13, from Nashville, Tenn., won a $10,000 college
scholarship. All of the top 10 finalists won $500 for advancing
beyond the preliminary round.
Fifty-five participants between fifth and eighth grade came to
Washington, D.C., to compete in the national bee. They
represented the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto
Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Pacific Territories and the
Department of Defense dependent schools. The group was narrowed
down to 10 finalists during the first round of competition
Tuesday.
Story Published: May 23, 2007 at
10:28 AM PDT By Associated Press
