Studying maps showed the way

MOSES LAKE — To some students geography is merely a graduation requirement, but to 13-year-old Austin Ozolins, it's a passion.

Ozolins took his passion and parlayed it into a chance to represent Moses Lake at the national geography bee in Washington D.C.

The Frontier Middle School seventh grader's favorite subject is social studies so when he took a geography test with his classmates in December to qualify for the National Geographic Bee, the competition's official name, he wasn't intimidated.

The test narrowed the candidates down to 11 students, who then took a secondary test, narrowing it down to the highest-scorer, Austin.

The test was 70 questions over one hour, and examined students' knowledge of locations and national products using written questions and maps.

Ask him about the difficulty of a test culminating in a nationally televised academic competition hosted by "Jeopardy!"'s Alex Trebek and he replies, "It was kind of easy."

His answer is not the least bit arrogant, but rather matter of fact, the sort of candidness adults sometimes lack. Austin speaks quietly and is somewhat reserved, but it is not indicative of his knowledge of geography.

After becoming the top geography student at his school, there was one more test before the state competition.

He took the state qualifying test in January, which was then mailed to Washington, D.C. for evaluation.

If Austin was nervous awaiting the results, he hid it well, only once saying he may be slightly anxious.

That test made him one of Washington's top 100 scorers, who now participate in the state competition in Tacoma on March 30. If he succeeds in Tacoma, the National Geographic Bee is May 22 and May 23 in Washington, D. C.

Explaining the drive students may have regarding academics, Austin's social studies teacher, Karin Olson explains some students focus on study the way others focus on basketball.

Austin admits he didn't push himself to extremes looming over tomes of history and atlases that are larger than most classroom desks, but he's always enjoyed learning about maps and history in school.