Texas teen maps out a win in U.S. geography bee
By Erin Thompson, USA TODAY
USA Today
WASHINGTON — Timis County shares its name with a tributary of the Danube and is located in the western part of which European country?
The answer: Romania.
When it came down to the last moments of the National Geographic Bee on Wednesday, knowing this fact spelled victory for Eric Yang, 13, of Griffin Middle School in The Colony, Texas, near Dallas.
Yang won first place in the 21st annual event — hosted by Jeopardy’s Alex Trebek— along with $25,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society and an all-expenses-paid trip to the Galapagos Islands to experience geography first-hand.
The one time Yang couldn’t nail the answer, though, was when Trebek asked him to name one of his weaknesses. “Um …” was his response.
Even though Yang is only in seventh grade, he has scored a 2200 out of 2400 on the SATs. He says he enjoys crafting chess strategies, playing basketball and reading cookbooks.
Here is the full story.
Chess makes you smart.