A Virginia team of mostly University of Mary Washington geography students recently won the 2015 Southeastern Regional World Geography Bowl Competition in Pensacola, Fla.
An annual competition, the World Geography Bowl is hosted by the Southeast Division of the Association of American Geographers (SEDAAG). Virginia’s undefeated team, which included five UMW undergraduate students and one Georgia graduate student, competed against seven other state teams to receive The Bowl, the competition trophy.
UMW students and faculty travel to the SEDAAG annual meeting each November to visit geographical sights, present research and participate in the Geography World Bowl. Many of the competitors in the bowl are graduate students, making UMW’s entirely undergraduate representation noteworthy. Teams must include students from more than one school that represent both genders as well as graduate and undergraduate students.
The Virginia team comprises UMW junior Will Gatens, senior Summers Cleary, junior Colin Cate, senior Steven Fernando, senior Phil Devine, junior Christine MacKrell and junior Clara Ludtke; Georgia student Andrew Berens; and team coordinator Joe Nicholas, associate professor of geography at UMW.
Fernando earned the second highest scorer overall, the highest scoring undergraduate in the competition. As a result, he will receive funding to attend the national meeting of the Association of American Geographers in San Francisco in March to compete for the SEDAAG in the national Geography Bowl.
For more information about UMW’s Department of Geography or the competition, contact Jackie Gallagher, chair and associate professor, at jgallagh@umw.edu or 540-654-1493.
