On Friday, April 6, more than 4,600 students competed across the United States and territories in National Geographic State Bees. Each State Bee Champion received a $200 cash prize, the “National Geographic Visual Atlas of the World, 2nd Edition,” and a trip to Washington, D.C., to represent their state or territory in the National Geographic Bee Championship to be held at National Geographic Society headquarters, May 20-23, 2018. Eight students are returning to the National Geographic Bee Championship from previous years. For more information on the National Geographic Bee, visit bit.ly/NatGeoBeePress.
2018 National Geographic State Bee Champions:
ALABAMA- Christian Martin, 8th grade, Echols Middle School, Northport
ALASKA- Riley Gross, 6th grade, Ocean View Elementary School, Anchorage
ARKANSAS- Wesley Bonner, 8th grade, Lake Hamilton Junior High School, Hot Springs
ARIZONA- Gayatri Kaimal, 7th grade, Basis Tucson North, Tucson
CALIFORNIA- Venkat Ranjan, 8th grade, Windemere Ranch Middle School, San Ramon
COLORADO- Garrett Fleischmann, 7th grade, Stargate Middle School, Thornton
CONNECTICUT- James Leone, 8th grade, Middlesex Middle School, Darien
DELAWARE- Jeremiah Rayban, 7th grade, Cab Calloway School of the Arts, Wilmington
WASHINGTON, D.C.- Max Garon, 8th grade, Sidwell Friends School, Washington, D.C.
FLORIDA- Kaylan Patel, 6th grade, Windermere Preparatory School, Windermere
GEORGIA- Vishal Sareddy, 8th grade, Riverwatch Middle School, Suwanee
HAWAII- William Chen, 6th grade, Aikahi Elementary, Kailua
IDAHO- Vincent Giordano, 8th grade, Lowell Scott Middle School, Boise
ILLINOIS- Ty Jones, 8th grade, Crestwood Junior High School, Paris
INDIANA- Jonathon Elliott, 7th grade, Griffith Middle School, Griffith
IOWA- Kavya Kalathur, 8th grade, Pleasant Valley Junior High School, LeClaire
KANSAS- Wyatt Boyd, 7th grade, Hocker Grove Middle School, Shawnee Mission
KENTUCKY- Case W. Grillot, 8th grade, Highlands Middle School, Fort Thomas
LOUISIANA- Andrew Minagar, 7th grade, Caddo Middle School, Shreveport
MAINE- Colin Aponte, 8th grade, Hancock Co. Area Homeschoolers, Blue Hill
MARYLAND- Alan Zhang, 8th grade, Mount View Middle School, Marriottsville
MASSACHUSETTS- Atreya Mallanna, 5th grade, Joseph Estabrook Elementary School, Lexington
MICHIGAN- Paarth Sharma, 5th grade, Moorsbridge Elementary School, Portage
MINNESOTA- Nicholas Peterson, 8th grade, St. John Baptist School, New Brighton
MISSISSIPPI- Jacob Holland, 8th grade, Long Beach Middle School, Long Beach
MISSOURI- Jackson Cooper, 7th grade, Christ the King, University City
MONTANA- Caleb Mark, 8th grade, Yellowstone County Home Educators, Billings
NEBRASKA- Quentin Bauer, 7th grade, Central Middle School, Omaha
NEVADA- Emmanuel Gayton-Vargas, 7th grade, Carson Valley Middle School, Gardnerville
NEW HAMPSHIRE- Sean Cheng, 8th grade, Cooperative Middle School, Stratham
NEW JERSEY- Anoushka Buddhikot, 8th grade, Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School, Bridgewater
NEW MEXICO- Lakshay Sood, 7th grade, Albuquerque Academy, Albuquerque
NEW YORK- Nicholas Sarris, 8th grade, West Hollow Middle School, Melville
NORTH CAROLINA- Jonathan Song, 8th grade, Salem Middle School, Apex
NORTH DAKOTA- Krishna Kamalakannan, 8th grade, Discovery Middle School, Fargo
OHIO- Saket Pochiraju, 8th grade, Orange Middle School, Lewis Center
OKLAHOMA- Dyllon Wheeler, 8th grade, Epic Charter Schools, Oklahoma City
OREGON- Ashwin Sivakumar, 8th grade, Oregon Episcopal School, Portland
PENNSYLVANIA- Arnab Sircar, 8th grade, Charles F Patton Middle School, Kennet Square
RHODE ISLAND- Maximus Terra, 8th grade, Alan Shawn Feinstein Middle School, Coventry
SOUTH CAROLINA- Sam Henshaw, 7th grade, Moultrie Middle School, Mt. Pleasant
SOUTH DAKOTA- Owen Fink, 7th grade, Bridgewater-Emery School, Emery
TENNESSEE- Aditya Narayanan, 6th grade, Riverdale Elementary/Middle School, Germantown
TEXAS- Nihar Janga, 7th grade, Canyon Ridge Middle School, Austin
UTAH- Felix Keil, 8th grade, Salt Lake Arts Academy, Salt Lake City
VERMONT- Mary Fowler, 7th grade, Eastern Vermont Homeschooler, Hartland
VIRGINIA- Caleb Hines, 8th grade, Ashburn Homeschoolers, Ashburn
WASHINGTON- Ihsan Lishar, 5th grade, Spiritridge Elementary School, Bellevue
WEST VIRGINIA- Joss Poteet, 7th grade, Wildwood Middle School, Shenandoah Junction
WISCONSIN- Hansen Jin, 8th grade, Kromrey Middle School, Middleton
WYOMING- Preston Buehler, 8th grade, Star Valley Middle School, Afton
ATLANTIC TERRITORIES- Diego Curet, 8th grade, St. John’s School, San Juan, PR
PACIFIC TERRITORIES- Napu Blas, 7th grade, Luis P. Untalan Middle School, Barrigada, GU
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DEPENDENTS SCHOOLS- Alexander Daniels, 7th grade, Seoul Am Middle School, Korea
