Pender wins fourth Geography Bee

Darlington's Ethan Pender moved one step closer to a chance at a $25,000 college scholarship by winning the school-level competition of the 24th Annual National Geographic Bee today. He competed against 34 other students in grades 4-8.

Pender, an eighth-grader, has won the school competition four times and competed in the state-level competition once. He has a second opportunity to do so again this year. State competitors must be in grades 4-8 and must have won the contest at the school level. The state bee will be held on Friday, April 6, at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville.

The winner from each state and territory will advance to the national competition, sponsored by Google, which will be held May 22-24 at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C. The final round of the 2012 National Geographic Bee, featuring Jeopardy's Alex Trebek, will air on the National Geographic Channel and then on public TV stations, produced by National Geographic Television.

The National Geographic Society is one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge, the society’s mission is to inspire people to care about the planet. 

It reaches more than 400 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; exhibitions; live events; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 9,600 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program promoting geographic literacy.