GMS student competes at state geographic bee

Greencastle Middle School student Zachary Wilkerson recently compteted in the 2012 Indiana National Geographic Bee in Indianapolis. The bee was open to grades four through eight.

Greencastle Middle School eighth grade student Zachary Wilkerson participated in the 2012 Indiana National Geographic Bee on March 30 at the IUPUI campus in Indianapolis.

Geographic Bees were held in schools with fourth- through eighth-grade students throughout the state to determine each school's Geographic Bee winner, with Zach earning top honors for Greencastle Middle School.

School-level winners then took a qualifying test, which they submitted to the National Geographic Society. In each of the 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense dependents schools and the U.S. territories, the National Geographic Society invited the students with the top 100 scores to compete at the state level.

By reaching the state level competition, Zach placed in the top 1 percent of the nation's fourth- through eighth-grade students in terms of geographic literacy.

At the state level, although Zach only missed two questions in the preliminary rounds, he did not advance as one of the top 10 students to the final round of the state competition.

The National Geographic Bee is sponsored by the National Geographic Society, Google and Plum Creek.