Got to know the globe

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers MAPPING OUT HIS STRATEGY—Niko Utash, an eighth-grader at Valley View Middle School, is one of three students in Ventura County who qualified to compete today in Sacramento for a spot in the National Geographic Bee. Ventura County will send three youngsters to a geography competition April 3 in Sacramento, where the winner will receive $100 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the national contest in May.

Nicholas Adler and Miguel Wise, both 12 and Camarillo residents, and Nikolaus "Niko" Utash, 14, of Simi Valley were among 100 students in the state with the highest scores on the National Geographic Bee.

"I was really happy," said Nicholas, a sixth-grader at Santa Rosa Technology Magnet School in Camarillo, on finding out he'd won a spot at the state competition. "I honestly didn't think I was going to make it, actually."

His teacher, Jerri Lejeune, read in class the congratulatory letter from the National Geographic Society, sponsor of the bee. Nicholas' classmates cheered.

Lejeune, a teacher for 14 years in Pleasant Valley School District, said Nicholas is the first student she knows of in PVSD to make it to the state contest.

"It's pretty exciting," she said. "It says a lot about him as a person when he's competing against kids who are two to three years older than he is."

The competition began in November when millions of fourth to eighthgrade students at 13,000 schools around the country tested their knowledge of world geography and culture, according to the National Geographic website. Earlier this month, the top 100 students in each of the 50 states were notified that they qualified and were invited to the competition in their state. The winners of those competitions will face off in the May national finals.

The national winner is awarded a $25,000 college scholarship, lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society and an allexpenses-paid trip to the Galápagos Islands.

Miguel is going to the state competition for the second time. Last year, he failed to pass the first round, but this year the seventhgrader at University Charter Middle School in Camarillo plans to make it to at least the final 10, which means he must answer every question correctly.

"It's going to be very hard—I know that for sure," Miguel said. "I'm going to get very nervous, but I hope I can get to my goal."

Sara Leibman, University's assistant principal, said she thinks Miguel stands a good chance of being the state champ.

"He's got great teachers, he's got a great family, and he's a great kid," Leibman said.

Niko, an eighth-grader at Valley View Middle School in Simi Valley and president of its National Junior Honor Society, said he was very "excited" to be selected.

"I was waiting and nervous (to see) if I made it or not," he said.

Niko is a good student who'll make the school proud, said Terry Paris, the teacher who gave the National Geographic test. "He's just a fantastic young man."