By Sara Ballenger

Michael Fagan and Ryan Kelly have a few things in common. Both have a passion for learning, both are in sixth grade and both will be representing Los Altos in the state finals of the 14th annual National Geographic Geography Bee, April 5, in Sacramento.

The competition is sponsored by the National Geographic Society.

Fagan attends Santa Rita School and Kelly, Oak Elementary. This is Fagan’s first time participating in the bee, since Santa Rita only allows sixth-graders to compete. This is Kelly’s third year competing. Oak allows students fourth grade and up to participate.

To qualify for the state finals, Fagan and Kelly first had to win their school’s geography bee. The students are given standardized questions of varying difficulty, no matter what grade they are in, similar to a spelling bee.

Questions are drawn from cultural and physical geography.

“I like geography because it’s a bridge between social studies and science,” Fagan said.

Both Fagan and Kelly won their school bees by answering the same question correctly: “An area of Antarctica is owned by which country which was a former British penal colony?”

By answering “Australia,” both Fagan and Kelly found themselves on their way to the state finals. But first they had to pass a written test.

“Two thousand students took the written test,” said Larry Fagan, Michael’s father. “Students with the top 100 scores were chosen to go to Sacramento.”

Fagan and Kelly are excited to make the trip to the state capital.

“I have no clue how hard the questions will be. Probably very hard,” Kelly said. “I hope to do my personal best.”

Fagan is excited to meet other students.

“I am looking forward to meeting people like me who are science-oriented,” he said. “It’s great to get this far, but I am looking forward to going farther.”

To prepare for the state competition, both students are spending some of their free time reading atlases and playing geography-related games.

“I have a lot of old geography bee questions that I am studying,” Kelly said. “We don’t have a lot of time to prepare.”

Fagan uses his love of reading as an opportunity to study geography.

“Whenever I want to read, I pick up an atlas or something,” he said. Both students spend about 45 minutes a day studying.

If their efforts pay off, Fagan or Kelly could win the state championship and be given the opportunity to compete in the National Geography Bee in Washington, D.C., in May.

Either way, both students can be proud of their accomplishments, as they are helping to put Los Altos on the map.