Kirsi Anselmi-Stith won the 2009 Wyoming Geographic Bee.
Kirsi Anselmi-Stith, 13, a seventh-grader at East Junior High in Rock Springs, took top honors Friday at the 2009 Wyoming state-level Geographic Bee, held at the University of Wyoming Conference Center.
She won $100, a tuition scholarship to UW, a National Geographic atlas and an all expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the national finals and the chance to be crowned National Geographic Bee champion. It marks the second time Anselmi-Stith has won the contest. In 2007, she became the first girl to win the Wyoming event.
Cameron Nelson, 11, a fifth-grader at Cheyenne's Buffalo Ridge Elementary School, was second place, and in third place was Lucas Jarrett, 14, an eighth-grader at Encampment School.
Others in the top 10 finals were Jared Albrecht, Green River; Miles Boley, Recluse; Samantha Breece, Lander; Kayla Cimburek, Casper; John Kelleher, Worland; Reo Radford, Torrington; and Michael Redzich, Jackson.
Gov. Dave Freudenthal gave opening remarks at the bee, organized by the National Geographic Society and coordinated by the UW Department of Geography. This year's state sponsors are Google and Plum Creek.
In each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Dependents Schools and the United States territories, the National Geographic Society invited the students with the top 100 scores to compete at the state level.
First prize in the national competition is a $25,000 college scholarship and lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society. The national winner, along with a parent or guardian, will also receive a free trip the Galapagos Islands with "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek.
The National Geographic Society developed the National Geographic Bee in 1989 in response to concern about the lack of geographic knowledge among young people in the United States.
Posted on Wednesday, April 08, 2009