SOUTH FORSYTH — On Friday, an eighth-grader at Vickery Creek Middle School will be asked questions such as: Disney’s blockbuster movie “Frozen” is set in the fictional land of Arendelle, which was largely inspired by the country of Norway. Norway is located on which European peninsula?
Abhay Chilakamarri will have to know that answer and many others when he competes as a semifinalist in the 2015 Georgia National Geographic State Bee. Up to 100 students can become eligible through qualifying rounds to compete at the Georgia College of Arts and Sciences.
“In class I see an articulate, focused individual who consistently puts full effort into assigned tasks,” said Carolyn Boggs, Chilakamarri’s language arts teacher. “He is an excellent and mature writer who treats his writing as a craft and grammar as an exciting challenge.”
Boggs said Chilakamarri is also a supportive friend and “integral part of a group of academically and technologically driven boys.”
He is about to compete in the second level of the National Geographic Bee competition, which is in its 27th year. School bees were held with fourth- through eighth-grade students across the 50 states, District of Columbia, Department of Defense Dependents Schools and U.S. territories.
School champions then submitted a qualifying test to the National Geographic Society.
Each state champion will receive $100, the “National Geographic Atlas of the World, 10th Edition,” a medal and a trip to Washington, D.C., to represent their state in the National Geographic Bee Championship in May.
The national champion will be awarded a $50,000 college scholarship and lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society. This student will also travel with one parent, all expenses paid, to the Galapagos Islands to experience their unique wildlife and landscapes “firsthand through up-close encounters.”
Above all, Forsyth County’s representative was described by his sense of humor.
“He and his friends enjoy laughs that harm no one,” Boggs said, “but lift them all above the often times challenging life of a middle school student.”