ABILENE, Kan. -  The top geography students from across the state will gather at the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene on March 30. They will be vying for first-place honors at the Kansas Geographic Bee.

This year's competition began in November with local contests in more than 200 Kansas schools. The 100 students selected to compete at the state level were required to pass a national qualifying exam. The Kansas winner will advance to the national competition, held at the National Geographic's Washington, D.C., headquarters on May 22 - 24. The top three national finalists will be awarded scholarships in the amounts of $25,000, $15,000 and $10,000.

For the state-level competition, five simultaneous preliminary rounds will take place between 1:30 and 2:45 p.m. at various locations at the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum and the Greyhound Hall of Fame. The championship round is scheduled for 3:20 - 5:00 p.m. in the Visitors Center Auditorium.

Members of the Kansas Geographic Alliance and Gamma Theta Upsilon, the K-State geography honorary society, will be assisting the National Geographic Society in running the state Geographic Bee finals.

The National Geographic Bee is an educational program instituted by the National Geographic Society in 1989 to address a lack of geographic knowledge among young Americans. Students in grades 4 through 8 are eligible to participate. This year's sponsors of the state-level competitions are Google and Plum Creek. The purpose of the contest is to spark student interest in geography and encourage teachers to include geography in the classroom curriculum. The Geographic Bee program brings public awareness to the importance of learning about geography.