FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                   3/22/11

Nampa Christian Schools’ 8^th grader Alexander Byron (Nampa) will advance to compete at the 2011 Idaho Geographic Bee at the Boise State University campus Friday, April 1^st. After winning a 4^th-8^th grade school competition in January, Alexander (Alex) then took a qualifying test and was recently notified by the National Geographic Society that he is a semifinalist. Alex advanced to this level by being one of the top 100 scoring students in the state of Idaho.

Alex has attended Nampa Christian Schools since he was in pre-Kindergarten and his favorite subjects are geography and history. Alex is a “straight A” student and enjoys learning.  Much of what he has learned about geography has been through studies during class time and by taking quizzes on the National Geographic Bee website.  He said, “Right now we’re studying World Geography in class and a lot of what we’re learning is similar to questions I will be asked at the Geography Bee”.  His winning question at the school competition this year was “What is the tallest mountain in Africa? The answer is Kilimanjaro”. In response to winning Alex says, “I’m glad I won so I could compete in the State competition.”

According to Nampa Christian middle school teacher Joanie Arendse, “For the past several years, Nampa Christian students have progressed on to the state level championship almost every year.” Past semifinalists have included Jacob Shelley (2008), Andrew Knudsen (freshman), Andrew Fillmore (sophomore) and many others.

The Idaho state winner will receive $100, the “Complete National Geographic on DVD”, and a trip to Washington, D.C. to represent Idaho in the national finals at the National Geographic society headquarters, May 24-25, 2011. The first-place national winner will receive a $25,000 college scholarship and lifetime membership in the Society and an all expenses paid trip to the Galapagos Islands provided by Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic. For more information on the National Geographic Bee visit www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee.

Nampa Christian Schools is a non-denominational Biblically based school located in Nampa, Idaho.  The early childhood (ages 6wks-5), K-6th grade campus is located at 439 West Orchard Ave. and grades 7-12 are located at 11920 W. Flamingo Ave. Nampa Christian Schools provides Christ-Centered Biblically-based academic excellence,  and church-family-school partnership integrated with a large variety of extra-curricular activities.