Mershon prepares for state geography bee

Micah Mershon has won West Homer Elementary School’s National Geographic Geography Bee contest, and Josiah Raymond is the runner-up in the school event.

Mike Hawfield, history professor at Kachemak Bay Campus, Kenai Peninsula college-University of Alaska Anchorage, volunteered as the questioner. The school event was coordinated by WHES staff Suzanne Haines and Holly Alston.

Results of a written test will determine if Mershon advances to the state competition in April.

The 2013 winner for Alaska was Kenny Petrini, an eighth-grade student at Central Middle School of Science in Anchorage. Sathwik Karnik, a 12-year-old student at King Philip Regional Middle School in Norfolk, Mass., won the National Geography Bee and was awarded a $25,000 college scholarship, an all-expense paid trip to the Galapagos Islands and a lifetime membership to the National Geographic Society.