Phelps, WI eight grader will represent state in National Geographic Bee

Ron Seely:

Thirteen-year-old Robert Rosner is in eighth grade in Phelps, Wis. -- pop. 1,400. There are seven students in his class in the small, Northwoods village near the Michigan state line.

But on the walls of his bedroom, Robert has taped National Geographic maps that carry him to landscapes far beyond the woodsy confines of Phelps. Every night, before he sleeps, he stares at the maps and travels to places he's never seen, according to his mother, Donna.

Friday, Robert mustered all he has learned from those imaginary journeys to win the state National Geographic Bee and a very real trip to Washington, D.C., where in May he will compete against 49 other students who have advanced from their own state contests to the national geography competition.

Robert plowed through tough questions on everything from tectonic plates beneath South America to tunnels in Norway and crocodiles in Mauritania to best more than 100 other elementary and middle school students from around Wisconsin in the annual contest. He seemed cool and confident throughout, unlike his mother.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at April 2, 2011 1:48 PM
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