Yeh, that's me with my son Gulliver and Harrison Schmidt the last man to set foot on the moon. It was 1998 and Gulliver had just won his first (or was it his second) New Mexico Geography Bee. Astronaut Dr. Schmidt was the guest moderator.
You can tell by my grin, that this was a pretty memorable experience for me. How many times do you witness your child succeed at something as difficult as a public academic contest, and meet one of the few people who walked on the moon! I admire the amount of hard work it took for Gulliver to win the state championship twice. I am in awe of the dedication, intelligence and bravery of the men who went to the moon.
The Shorecrest Geographic Bee will be held in December and January. The first part is held in 4th through 8th grade classrooms to determine a grade level winner and alternate. The school final is held in Janet Root Theater with the grades 3-8 in the audience.
I've encouraged my class to prepare by doing the online Geo Bee Challenge a couple of times per week. We will soon begin to practice for the Bee itself.
Besides coaching my son in his quest for the National Geo Bee championship (he finished in the top ten of the nationally televised final), my fifth grade teacher team at The Potomac School in the Washington, DC area piloted the Bee at its inception in the '80's.
By the way, Dr. Schmidt was the last of the Apollo astronauts to arrive and set foot on the Moon (crewmate Eugene Cernan exited the Apollo Lunar Module first). However, as Schmitt re-entered the module first, Cernan became the last astronaut to walk on and depart the moon.
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