Apple Valley 8th Grader to Test Geography Knowledge at State Bee

Will Casey's favorite academic subjects tend to be in the sciences. A recent career test showed his greatest aptitudes are in science, English and math.

But his latest accomplishment proves his skills in yet another area.

Casey, an eighth-grader at , has earned a spot in the 2012 Minnesota National Geographic Bee, scheduled for Friday at St. Cloud State University. He won the Scott Highlands school-level competition and scored among the top 100 fourth through eighth graders on a written exam to qualify for state.

The winner of the state bee goes on to the National Geographic Bee in Washington, D.C., in May, the prize for which includes a $25,000 scholarship and trip to the Galapagos Islands.

"It's just incredible," Will's mom, Patti Casey, said.

Despite his aspirations to (possibly) become an astrophysicist, geography and cultures have been a mainstay in Will's life. His earliest geography memory is from age 6 or 7, when his parents would quiz him on state capitals at the dinner table, with U.S. map placemats for assistance.

Will's dad, Tom Casey, is active in the U.S. Air Force, so Will also has experienced much more of the world than many students his age.

"By the time he was 11 he'd lived in 11 different countries," Patti said.

Will said he's best at questions about Europe, North America and some of Asia, and needs to work more on Africa and South America.

The questions in the bee, however, go beyond physical geographic locations and features, so Will has also had to employ knowledge of cultures, languages and current events. Scott Highlands teacher Jennifer Rauner said the competition often features questions relating to events of the past year.

One tough question Will encountered on his state test was an analogy that said a particular tribe of people is to goats as X tribe is to cattle, where the students had to name X tribe.

"I took a wild guess," he said.

On other questions, though, he's able to use clues like cultural and language identifiers to help him. For example, even though he might not have heard of Germany's Stuttgart region, the fact that the clue includes that cars are made there and that it's near the Black Forest helps him correctly answer that it's in Germany.

At state, Will and the other students will start with an oral competition, and eventually the field will be narrowed to the top 10 contestants, who compete in an auditorium in front of an audience.

But a week out from the competition, Will said the possibility of a crowd didn't faze him; he said he hadn't really been cracking down on studying, either, though he did get a National Geographic Bee practice book.

"That's not how I pick things up," he said.

Regardless of the outcome, Will's parents already are impressed with the achievements of their son, who is also a jazz band and swim team member, and is close to becoming an Eagle Scout.

"We're proud of him no matter what," Tom said.