Wa.Teen Wins Geography Bee on Third Try

W A S H I N G T O N, May 23 -- The third time was the charm for KyleHaddad-Fonda, a 14-year-old from Washington state who won the 2001National Geographic Bee today.

Haddad-Fonda of Shoreline, Wash., also represented his state inthe bee each of the last two years.

The answer that gave him the victory: knowing what an ablationzone is. That's the lower level of a glacier where the ice ismelting.

A $25,000 Check and a Smile

Smiling and holding a $25,000 scholarship check, the shyyoungster said the best part of the competition was meeting theother children from around the country.

Nick Jachowski, 14, of Makawao, Hawaii, finished second. Thethird-place winner was Jason Ferguson, 13, of Dallas. The secondand third prizes are scholarships of $15,000 and $10,000.

In all, 55 geographically talented 10-to-15-year-olds fromacross the country came to Washington for the National GeographicSociety's annual battle of the locations. They were reduced to 10finalists in Tuesday's opening round.

Know Your Mountains, Urdu and Mauritanian Cities

Questions ranged from the easy: Much of which state is coveredby mountains, Wyoming or Iowa? Answer: Wyoming.

To the moderate: Urdu and English are the principal languages ofwhich Asian country? Answer: Pakistan.

To the pretty hard: The number of people in Mauritania's mostpopulous city has increased 70-fold since the 1960s. Name thiscity? Answer: Nouakchott.

More than 5 million students from across the country competed inlocal and state contests leading up to the national session. The 55state winners each got $100 and a trip to the capital, and the 10finalists received $500 each.

Strong Showing for Home-schooling

Continuing a trend of recent years, three of the finalists arehome-schooled.

And four have represented their states in the Bee in previousyears.

Also battling it out for the championship were:

Arizona: Paul Ruffner, 14, Prescott.

Arkansas: Kyle Macfarlan, 12, Siloam Springs.

California: Fedor Manin, 13, Palo Alto.