Robert Schleifer Wins Georgia Level of National Geography Bee

by Dawn White

On April 9, 1999, Robert Schleifer, 13, of Hall County Home Educators, won the Georgia state level of the National Geography Bee, sponsored by National Geographic and Bank One. Over 100,000 students in the state of Georgia competed at the local levels in Georgia this year. Local level winners then took a written qualifying test to determine the top 100 students in the state, which included 5 home schooled students. On April 9 these students met at Georgia Perimeter College in Atlanta. The morning preliminary rounds narrowed the field to 10 students. The final and championship rounds were held in the afternoon. Robert did not miss any questions the entire day.

The question that determined that he was the winner was “The Kara Kum Canal, an 850-mile long irrigation canal that carries water from the Amu Darya toward the Caspian Sea irrigates what country? Robert answered, “Turkmenistan” and won a cash prize, geography study aids including atlases and a globe, a plaque, a geography bee T-shirt, and a 3-day all expense paid trip to Washington D. C. for himself and his teacher (i.e. mom) for the national finals on May 24 - 26. When he got to Washington, D.C., he and his family were glad to see other homeschooling families there. Robert did very well, coming in 11th. The winner of the national competition was a homeschooled student from South Carolina, and he received a $25,000 college scholarship, a lifetime subscription to National Geographic, and an all expense paid 7-day trip for his family to Australia.

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