MEDIA RELEASE

The National Geographic Society has named Tristan Sienkiewicz, a seventh grade student at Hawaii Preparatory Academy, one of the semifinalists eligible to compete in the 2012 Hawaii National Geographic Bee, sponsored by Google and Plum Creek.

The 2012 Hawaii National Geographic Bee is Friday, March 30, at Leeward Community College Theatre on Oahu.

Tristan Sienkiewicz

Bees were held in schools with fourth- through eighth-grade students across the state to determine each school’s Geographic Bee winner.

School-level winners then took a qualifying test, which they submitted to the National Geographic Society. In each of the 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Dependents Schools, and the U.S territories, the National Geographic Society invited the students with the top 100 scores to compete at the state level.

The state winner will receive $100, the Complete National Geographic on DVD, and a trip to Washington, D.C., where he/she will represent Hawaii in the national finals May 22-24 at the National Geographic Society headquarters.

The first-place national winner will receive at $25,000 college scholarship and lifetime membership in the Society. The national winner also will travel with one parent or guardian, all expenses paid, to the Galapagos Islands.

National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo Wild will air the final round of the 2012 National Geographic Bee, moderated by Alex Trebek, on Thursday, May 24 (to be followed on public television stations).