There aren’t a lot of middle school students who can successfully identify the country of Zambia on a world map or globe, but Page Middle eighth grader Jacob Williams can.
Williams recently took home the third place trophy for the National Geographic Tennessee Geographic Bee for his knowledge of the world’s locations and was awarded a $2,000 scholarship to be applied towards college.
It was a long road to get to the final three for Williams.
He had to take the qualifying test in February before placing in the top 105 and advancing to the state competition at Tennessee State University. From there, Williams survived 21 preliminary rounds to advance to the group of 10 finalists.
Once the group was down to just 10, the students competed until there were only two remaining for the championship round.
Williams didn’t advance to the championship round, but he successfully answered enough questions to make the podium.
He said he attributes his success at the bee to his love for maps and history.
“I absorb that knowledge easily, and I like to look at atlases,” Williams said. “I like history, and I like the history of geography.”
For Williams, finishing towards the top of the pack was nothing new.
“I came in fourth last year, so I was expecting to finish in a high position this year,” he said. “I thought I might have a chance to win it.”
To prepare for the bee, Williams often used a testing app or he goes with the more old-fashioned approach of having his mom quiz him.
Geography isn’t Williams’ only strong suit, and he plans to leverage his bee win and good academic track record to get a full ride scholarship when he heads off to college.
Williams said he wants to attend the University of Alabama Huntsville so he can major in aerospace engineering and pursue a career at NASA.