9th National Geographic Bee

9th National Geographic Bee
Date	May 28, 1997
Location	Washington, D.C.
Winner	Alex Kerchner
Age	12
Residence	Kirkland, Washington
No. of contestants	57
Preceded by	8th National Geographic Bee
Followed by	10th National Geographic Bee

The 9th National Geographic Bee was held in Washington, D.C., on May 28, 1997, sponsored by the National Geographic Society. The final competition was moderated by Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek. ^[1] The winner was Alex Kerchner of Kamiakin Junior High School in Kirkland, Washington, who won a $25,000 college scholarship. ^[2] The 2nd-place winner, Steve Sreckovic of South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, won a $15,000 scholarship. The 3rd-place winner, Justin Mosel of Orchard, Nebraska, won a $10,000 scholarship. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

1997 State Champions

State	Winner's Name	Grade	School	City/Town	Notes
Arizona	Aaron Linderman	McKemy Middle School	Tempe
California	Gavin Skram	Teel Middle School	Empire
Colorado	Jeff Russell	Powell Middle School	Littleton
Connecticut	Tim Courchaine	John F. Kennedy Middle School	Enfield
Hawaii	Darlene Dela Cruz	Kalakaua Intermediate School	Honolulu
Louisiana	Keith Maddox	Riverdale Middle School	Jefferson
Maryland	Pablo Ruiz	Eastern Middle School	Silver Spring
Massachusetts	Jamie Kettleson	Central Middle School	Quincy
Michigan	Petko Peev	7th	Forest Hills Central Middle School	Grand Rapids
Missouri	Eapen Thampy	Maryland Heights
Nebraska	Justin Mosel	Orchard Public School	Orchard	Third Place
New Hampshire	Morgan Brown	Walpole Elementary School	Walpole
New Jersey	T.J. Brazda	Martin J. Ryerson School	Ringwood
New Mexico	Gulliver Hughes	Albuquerque
New York	Deepak Kollali	8th	Mildred E. Strang Middle School	Yorktown Heights
North Carolina	Michael Mueller	Aycock Middle School	Greensboro
North Dakota	Aaron Shreve	Mandan Junior High School	Mandan
Ohio	Matt Bowshier	Washington Middle School	Washington Courthouse
Pennsylvania	Jonathan Squibb	Lamberton Middle School	Carlisle
South Carolina	Jonathan Hess	Irmo Middle School	Columbia
South Dakota	Megan Storm	Yankton Middle School	Yankton
Texas	Vivek Kasinath	Keystone School	San Antonio
Utah	Adam Stoddard	South David Junior High School	Bountiful
Virginia	Dennis Bakke	Arlington
Washington	Alex Kerchner	7th	Kamiakin Junior High School	Kirkland	1997 Champion
West Virginia	Daniel Harris	St. Agnes Middle School	Charleston
Wisconsin	Steve Sreckovic	8th	South Milwaukee Middle School	South Milwaukee	Second Place

References

1. Melody Kramer. "Alex Trebek: On Hosting the National Geographic Bee". National Geographic. Archived from the original on June 17, 2013.
2. "National Geographic Bee Champions" (PDF). National Geographic. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 8, 2016.
3. "Kirkland, Wash., boy wins geography bee". upi.com.
4. Lara Bain. "13-year-old's talent is all over the map". Seattle Times.
5. "Asia Knowledge Helps Geography Whiz, 12, Win National Contest". Los Angeles Times.

External links

• National Geographic Bee Official Website