LaSalle Springs Student, Father Compete Alongside Each Other at National Geography, History Bees

This past spring, LaSalle Springs Middle sixth-grader Ben Haugen qualified for the International Academic Competitions (IAC) national geography and history bee championships.

Haugen's family decided to celebrate his achievement by making a family vacation out of the event, which was held May 22-26 in Orlando, Florida. While researching the championships, they saw that a "Parents, Teachers and Siblings" Bee was also open to other members of the participants' traveling parties.

So they signed up Haugen's dad, Brett, a trivia lover with prodigious knowledge of history, geography and science, to compete alongside Ben. Brett advanced to the semifinals and finished 10th out of nearly 70 participants at the event.

"It was cool that Dad made it to semifinals and got a plaque," Ben said. "It was cool to see his knowledge be used in competition."

More than 2,000 students from K-8 competed in this year's IAC Middle & Elementary School National Championships, including 820 in the History Bee and 862 in the Geography Bee.

When Ben first qualified for nationals in February, he didn't quite know how to feel. He assumed that most of his fellow competitors made it to nationals as well.

When he started figuring out how special his accomplishment was -- and that it meant a trip to Orlando and a visit to Universal Studios -- the excitement started creeping in.

Preparing for the championships was a family affair, with Ben's mother, father and five-year-old sister helping get him ready. The family would play "The Country Game," which is where each family member thinks of a country or city, and the others have to guess what it is based on a few questions.

"I enjoy geography because I like knowing about the world and traveling around the world," Ben said. "I also enjoy learning about nature and animals that live around the world. I also like learning about the flags of the world; it's as if every country has a symbol, and knowing each country's symbol is cool. I like history because I'm good at remembering it, and it's interesting."

Ben also spent his time leading up to the competition preparing for his trip to Universal Studios. His mother, Eileen, incentivized studying for the Bee and other chores by assigning monetary values to each task. Ben came up with a list of souvenirs he wanted and earned more than enough money to get them all ... with some left over for a gift for his sister.

An avid Harry Potter fan, Ben's favorite part of the trip was visiting the various Wizarding World of Harry Potter parks at Universal Studios. He especially enjoyed the new Ministry of Magic, which the family visited on opening day of Epic Universe, the newest Universal theme park.

Ben's interest in geography and history stems largely from the example of his father, so having Brett to compete alongside made the trip even more special.

While it was stressful at times, Ben says he is eager to try and qualify for nationals again next year!