Rorick won his first Geography Bee in fourth-grade.

CHARLOTTE, NC - Hart Rorick, sixth-grade student at Trinity Episcopal School, will travel to the University of North Carolina Charlotte this Friday, March 30, to compete in the North Carolina National Geographic Bee.

 

Rorick's third consecutive trip to the state competition comes after completing the 75-question multiple choice qualifying test given to all school-level winners and submitted to the National Geographic Society.

 

"This being my third year, I feel more comfortable going into Friday's competition," says Rorick. "I'm really excited; I have a good feeling about this year."

 

In fifth-grade, Rorick placed sixth in North Carolina.

Rorick first traveled to the North Carolina state competition in fourth-grade and was only one of five fourth-graders to qualify for the state geography bee. In fifth-grade, Rorick competed at the state level and finished sixth in North Carolina. This year, he hopes to make it to the top, travel to Washington, D.C., and participate in the national finals at the National Geographic Society headquarters May 22-24.

 

"Hart has been interested in maps and geography since the age of four. He would look for different license plates wherever we were," says Lisa Quisenberry, Rorick's mother. "He loves to travel and thinks about visiting countries around the world."

 

The National Geographic Bee is organized by the National Geographic Society and is sponsored by Google Inc. First prize in the national competition is a $25,000 college scholarship and lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society. The top 10 national finalists will be eligible for selection for the three-person team to represent the United States in the international National Geographic World Championship in Russia, 2013.

For Rorick, third time may be the charm to qualify for the National Geographic Bee in Washington, D.C.

 

"In my eighteen years of teaching, Hart has the best overall geographical knowledge I've ever seen and he's just a sixth-grader," says Trinity middle school social studies teacher Grady Smith. "He's a natural."

For more information about Trinity Episcopal School, find us on the Web at www.tescharlotte.org.