Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Here is a kid that really deserves kudos!

Geo Bee winner loves to explore the world

By BARBARA NORDBY
Star-Tribune staff writer

From his family's house in the foothills near Casper Mountain, Jamie Mothersbaugh has a pretty good vantage point for learning about geography.

He can see the North Platte River valley, the mountain top and the vastness of Wyoming stretching into the distance.

But to win the National Geographic Bee next month, the 11-year-old with braces and shaggy blond hair will have to travel much farther.

He'll go to Washington, D.C., May 22 and 23 as Wyoming's representative for his second shot at the national competition and will have to answer challenging questions about geography, history, climate and current events from around the globe.

Jamie, a sixth-grader at Park Elementary School, won his school bee as a fourth-grader, and made it to the 2004 state Geo Bee.

He can't remember the question he lost on, but hasn't forgotten everything: "The answer was Bhutan."

The next year, as a fifth-grader, "I felt more confident about how I would do," he said.

There are about 70 students at the state geography bee.

Jamie beat them all, and went to D.C. in 2005.

A group of supporters joined him: his teacher, Noreen Stutheit. His mom, Becky, the concertmaster of the Casper Symphony Orchestra. His dad, Jim, who teaches music at Park. His little brother, Blair, now in fourth grade at Park.

The questions were hard. Jamie said he answered three of nine correctly in the preliminary round.

On one question that tripped him up, he was shown three lakes and asked to put them in order by surface area.

He learned that to do well at the national bee, he'd have to not only know a lot about the world, but be able to draw conclusions, make comparisons and really understand how different regions of the world depend on each other.

Since he won the 2006 state bee last month, Jamie's been studying harder. He has a map of the world above his bed and a globe on his desk. He has a bookshelf full of atlases and study guides, and he watches world news at night.

That is, whenever he's not doing his homework, playing baseball, hunting rabbits or practicing one of his three instruments: the violin, the trumpet and the piano.

On the trip to D.C. last year, Jamie put together a thick scrapbook of his experience. He has postcards of the national monuments, pictures of himself with Sen. Craig Thomas, and his nametag from the Bee.

His goal this year is to do better than last year. He's not scared. He likes the host, Alex Trebek.

"He's not intimidating," Jamie said. "He's actually quite humorous."

Winning may be a long shot: the bee is for students up to eighth grade. There will be kids from every state and some islands and territories.

Jamie may have more chances to win in the next two years. By the time he's in eighth grade, he'll have logged a lot more miles in life.

Since last year, he's done more traveling, going to New York and other states with his family last summer.

He marveled at the Statue of Liberty, Fenway Park and other landmarks.

"I think it's just interesting," he said, "that after having seen them in geography questions, and hearing about them on the news, then you can finally take all that and look at it."

Reach Barbara Nordby at (307) 266-0633 or at barbara.nordby@casperstartribune.net.