Fourth- through eighth-grade students representing nearly 80 different towns and cities in Massachusetts will compete in the state final of the National Geographic Bee at 1 p.m. on Friday, April 1, in the Daniels Theater in Atwood Hall at Clark University. Registration is from 1 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. The final round will begin at approximately 3:15 p.m.

* WEATHER UPDATE: Although snow is expected on April 1, the Bee is scheduled to go on as planned. * 

Anthony Bebbington, director of Clark’s School of Geography, will present the opening address, welcoming more than one hundred students who have successfully faced school-level and qualifying competitions. The students will vie for the state championship, a $100 cash prize, “The Complete National Geographic” on DVD, and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to compete in the national finals on May 24-25. The second- and third-place state winners will also receive cash prizes, and all three will receive world globes. First prize in the national competition is a $25,000 college scholarship and a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society.

The National Geographic Society developed the National Geographic Bee in 1989 in response to concern for the lack of geographic knowledge among young people in the United States. You can visit National Geographic Bee online to learn more — and perhaps test your knowledge with a sample quiz:   https://www.nationalgeographic.org/bee/.