O.C. Youth Puts Himself on the Map : Learning: Eighth-grader Paul Scherz of Huntington Beach wins third place in state geography bee, the first local student to do that well in the contest.

It was tartan, the Scottish plaid, that cost 13-year-old Paul Scherz of Huntington Beach his shot at first place, but Scherz was still happy to place third in the state’s geography bee in Sacramento on Friday.

“I feel great,” he said after beating 96 students in the competition. “I can’t believe it.”

Paul is the first Orange County student to win a top spot in the competition. An eighth-grader at Sts. Simon and Jude School in Huntington Beach, he has competed in the state geography championships since he was in the sixth grade.

The young scholar survived eight preliminary rounds and more than a dozen final rounds, answering questions such as, “Through which straits do tankers carry oil every day?” (Hormuz), and “Things seasoned with curry are associated with which country in Asia?” (India).

He aced seven questions in the final round before he got the one that put him out of the running for first: “What are the plaid patterns called that Scottish clans use to identify themselves?” (tartan). He answered “kilt,” the name for the Scottish pleated skirt.

Hi mother, Elizabeth Scherz, said watching her son in the long competition was taxing but enjoyable. “You pray a lot, and keep score,” she said. “It’s fun and exciting.”

Back in Huntington Beach, Anne Tufo, Paul’s homeroom and social studies teacher, said the school was “extremely proud” of his accomplishment.

“Paul Scherz is one of our stunning examples of a child who has ability and demonstrates it in every class,” she said. Scherz is an A student, reads constantly and takes an avid interest in current affairs, she said.

“And yet you will find him on the basketball court shooting hoops with anyone else,” Tufo said. “He’s just an all-around great kid.”

Stephen Cunha, the state’s geography bee coordinator, said 104,000 students from throughout the state competed this year. “This was a very close bee, and hotly contested,” he said. “We had very good students.”

Cunha noted that students had to point out locations on diagrams and maps in addition to answering oral questions. And it is not enough, he said, to merely know where a place is located.

“The students have to know more than just place names; they have to know how to integrate climates and political systems. They think like geographers. If you just memorize capitals and states, you’ll never make it. You have to recognize patterns on the land, political patterns as well as climatological ones. You can never know everything.”

What in the World?

Here are some sample questions from the final rounds of Friday’s geography bee in Sacramento:

1 Creole and what other language are the official languages of Haiti?

2 China is second only to what other country in the production of corn?

3 The Niger River empties into a gulf that is part of what larger body of water?

4 Copper reserves in a landlocked country in southern Africa earned the country as much as 85% of its export income. What is the name of this country?

5 Name the southernmost peninsula of the mainland of southeast Asia.

6 Name the only continent through which the international dateline passes.

7 Indians make up the largest ethnic group in two South American countries. Name one of these countries.

8 Only one continent has regions of Mediterranean climate in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Name the continent. Answers

1. French; 2. The United States; 3. The Atlantic Ocean; 4. Zambia;

5. The Malay Peninsula; 6. Antarctica; 7. Bolivia or Peru; 8. Africa.

Source: State geography bee