Worcester Academy To Host 2014 NatGeo State Geographic Bee


Worcester Academy will host the 2014 National Geographic Society’s Massachusetts State Geographic Bee tomorrow, April 4, from 12:30 to 4 p.m.
 
The Academy will be the location for both the semifinals and the finals, each of which will be be held at WA that day, with the championship round being held in Warner Theater.

It is the second consecutive year that Worcester Academy has held the state competition, and the 26th year that the Annual National Geographic Bee has been held nationwide.

The competition puts the life’s work of Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor (Worcester Academy, Class of 1893) – an iconic figure at National Geographic and a Worcester Academy alumnus who graduated 121 years ago – center stage.

Gilbert H. Grosvenor was a resident of Millbury, where his mother, a cousin of President Taft, grew up. Gilbert was appointed the first full time editor of National Geographic in 1899, and later became president of the National Geographic Society (1920 to 1954). A graduate of Amherst College, he had taught for a short time at a New Jersey school before being recruited by Alexander Graham Bell, a founding member of the society (Bell’s father-in-law, Gardner Greene Hubbard, was the society’s first president), to become the magazine’s editor. Gilbert later married Bell’s daughter.

The Hubbard-Bell-Grosvenor clan lead National Geographic for 122 years, and five generations, until the resignation of Gilbert H.’s grandson, Gilbert Melville Grosvenor, in 2010.

Last year, the National Geographic Society marked its 125th anniversary and celebrated unmatched achievements in geography education, publishing, and broadcasting, legacies directly attributable to Worcester Academy alumnus Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor.

His accomplishments, and that of National Geographic (whose motto is “Inspiring People To Care About The Planet”), prove that Worcester Academy graduates have always cared about the wider world.

WORCESTER ACADEMY

Worcester Academy is a co-ed day and boarding school for grades 6 to 12 and postgraduates that is committed to innovative teaching and learning, urban leadership, making a global impact, and achieving the honorable everyday. Find us on the web at www.worcesteracademy.org

For information, contact Neil Isakson at 508-754-5302 x135, or email neil.isakson@worcesteracademy.org
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