“Hannah should be very proud because these questions are not easy,” Joe Beatty of AAA Alaska said in a press release announcing Hannah’s results on the qualifying tests. “She will compete with some of the nation’s brightest students at the competition in Orlando.”

In January, Hannah entered the online first round of the challenge.

“I got an e-mail saying, ‘Congratulations! You are in the top five in the state!’” she said. A similar notification came after she took the written test in March.

“That one was darn hard. It was timed and I only had 15 minutes to do something like 40 multiple choice questions,” Hannah said. “AAA is focused on American tourism, so the questions are mostly on places where Americans go, like California, Florida, the Caribbean, etc.”

Hard as it was, Hannah scored well. In fact, according to AAA, it was on the 40-question written test that she scored the highest.

She credits her father, Donald, for her interest in places around the world.

“I’ve always just loved geography, probably (has) to do with the itchy feet I inherited from my father,” she said. “I’ve always loved the idea of different cultures and different places. The world is becoming so global these days. I can’t imagine not knowing how the planet is laid out. If you can’t find France on a map, you’ve got a problem. Knowledge begets understanding.”

She’s a former participant in geography bees. Sponsored by National Geographic, that competition is for students in fourth- through eighth-grades.

“She made it to Anchorage to compete on state level a bunch of times, and often would miss by one question of getting to go farther (in the competition),” her mother, Tammy, said. “When she aged out of that, she wanted to know if there was anything for older kids that was similar.”

Hannah’s older sister came across the AAA scholarship opportunity.

“I found out about it when she was researching for college scholarships,” Hannah said. “When she saw it, she thought of me, so I did it.”

That was last year. The results were not as favorable as this year.

“I took the test, but nothing came of it so I forgot about it, but they sent all past participants an e-mail reminding them to try again, so I tried again and something did come of it this time,” Hannah said.

“I just took the test. I didn’t really study. I wasn’t especially excited about it. I didn’t really care that much. I care more now.”

Her schedule leaves little time for studying for the national competition. Hannah was chairman of the decorating committee for Saturday’s prom, she helped set up for the opening of an exhibit at the Pratt Museum Friday, has ACT and advanced placement tests coming up, is active in Future Farmers of America and is preparing for Envirothon, an environmental education competition. However, Homer High School Principal Ron Keffer is confident in Hannah’s ability to do well.

“She’s an extraordinary young woman,” Keffer said. “Hannah, being the quality student she is, is going to have a shot anytime in that kind of competition. … She’s very mature for her age, focused, and above all, just very, very smart.”

Her mother agrees.

“She’s very smart and just really thrives on learning and keeping busy,” Tammy Bradley said.

Distracted as Hannah may be right now, the Homer High School junior is preparing to make good use of her time before the national competition in May.