Iowa City boy lands fifth place finish in National Geographic Bee

Imagine finding yourself sitting at the U.S. vice president's house eating vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and brownie chunks and enjoying the presence of Second Lady Jill Biden.

That is where Patrick Taylor, 12, found himself last week after competing as a finalist at the National Geographic Bee, an annual competition that tests fourth to eighth grade students on the layout of the world. Taylor, a resident of Iowa City and a seventh grader at Coralville's Northwest Junior High School, walked away with a tie for fifth place.

Taylor said his schoolmates greeted him with no less than 100 'congrats' when he returned from Washington, Taylor said.

'It was just a good experience,' Taylor said about his time in D.C., where he first competed in the national preliminary round May 11 and advanced to the final round May 13. 'I just hope I can get my makeup work done.'

Through the Bee, Taylor got to know his fellow finalists well, and now has an online geography group with them.

'I know them very well and how their personalities are,' Taylor said, adding that he plans to stay in touch with several of them, including winner Karan Menon, 14, of New Jersey. 'We talked about where we were from and what was going to happen.'

A lot happened. From the preliminary round, to an undisclosed location for a Geochallenge that would count toward participants' scores, to interviews and sightseeing, Taylor and his cohort were kept busy during their time in D.C.

Taylor, whose love of geography goes back to looking at maps as a toddler, said if he could choose someplace to travel, he would pick somewhere out of the country where there is not too much civil unrest. Because a map or atlas cannot tell him about the conflicts and issues of the world, Taylor does not stop his learning with those resources.

After driving to Washington with his family and participating in the Geography Bee, the Taylors stayed for a couple of days to sightsee. They were able to visit highlights like the monuments, National Zoo and Smithsonian museums.

'I'm happy that it's over for a while, so I can get back to my normal life,' Taylor said.

Taylor has participated in the National Geographic Bee since he was a fifth grader. He has qualified for the state competition three times. Next year, he plans to compete for the final time.

His advice for students that participate is to 'just have fun.'

George Kuhter, Iowa coordinator of the National Geographic Bee, said next year's state National Geographic Bee will take place April 1, 2016. Kuhter, who has been in his position for the last six years, said he has noticed the participants getting calmer in general about competing. 'They're multitalented kids,' Kuhter said. '[Competing is] something that they're used to.'

Kuhter, who was present during the competition in D.C., said he noticed Taylor also took competing in stride and kept an attitude of doing his best throughout the process.

'When I was in the top 10, I would have been happy to get 10th out of 10,' Taylor said.