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Local geography genius – Metro US

Local geography genius

Graham Tompkins has his future mapped out for him.

The Grade 9 student’s knack for knowing about the world recently earned him second place in the country’s largest student geography competition.

“It covers a lot of topics, not just atlases, (but) weather, land forms, current events,” said the Prince Arthur Junior High student.

Graham, 15, qualified for the Great Canadian Geography Challenge nationals after beating 11 others for the provincial title at a recent competition at Saint Mary’s University.

The web-based national event was held in schools last week. It involved completing 11 rounds of questions on various geographical topics.

“It was close,” Graham said, adding an omen helped him along the way.

“There was a book sitting on desk next to me that said ‘Believe you can’ on it.”

Just two points behind the winner, Graham took home second place after defeating three others during a tiebreaker round.

The title earned him a $2,000 university scholarship and a possible chance to travel to a world competition next year.

“I like to learn about the world,” said Graham, who is thinking about becoming a planner. “It’s really interesting, more so than any other topic.”

His principal Debbie Rowsell said the whole school is proud of Graham’s feat.
“This is a huge accomplishment,” she said.
-lindsay.jones@metronews.ca