William Hodgson-Walker Wins Geography Bee
April 22, 2010, page 6.....

CCS Seventh grader William Hodgson-Walker is the Vermont Geography Bee Champion and will represent the state at the National Geographic Bee on May 25 and 26 in Washington, DC.

William achieved this honor by first winning the CCS Geography Bee and taking a qualifying written test. He competed against 92 other school winners on April 9 at Middlebury College. He and the other finalists answered questions about cultural, political, economic and physical geography, use of graphs, Google Earth images and current events.

First, William qualified for the final round by correctly answering seven out of eight preliminary round questions. Then the top ten students received oral and written questions until only two students remained, William and Charles Yarwood, a seventh grader at Hinesburg Community School. William and Charles went head to head for ten rounds until William correctly named the country that borders both Croatia and Ukraine.

His parents, Suzy Hodgson and Mike Walker, were thinking, Romania, Kosovo? - the wrong answer. William said “Hungary” – the right answer. There was a rather long pause until the MC from Ben & Jerry’s announced, “We have a winner.” His mother admits geography is not her strong suit. Younger brother Nate was still laughing, “He tripped going up the stair to the stage to the final round.”

Along with the trip to Washington, DC, William won a cash prize of $100 and a copy of the National Geographic Collegiate Atlas of the World. The winner of the National Geographic Bee in Washington will win a $25,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society and a trip to the Galapagos Islands.