He was one of over 60 students who joined the competition, and the first-runner up was Lester Garcia.
“This really gives them an opportunity to kind of see how big the world is and how many things they might not know,” said Aaron Mar, Hopwood social studies department chairman.
Gutierrez and Garcia were asked three questions during the championship round, but they gave the wrong answers.
In the tie-breaking round, Gutierrez got the right answer to the second question: “Which small Asian country is home to eight of the 10 highest mountain peaks in the world?”
Nepal.
The competition took place in the cafeteria.
The other semi-final round contestants were Jude Lizama, Paul Taquiero, Keina Santos, Daryl Hermogenes, Maricel Santos, Allysha Lloren, Adam Sablan, Jace Pineda, Linson Manahan, and Fidel Palacios.
The questions were asked by Mar.
The preliminary rounds were held in the second week of December in the classrooms, while the championship round was held last Jan. 11.
Gutierrez took the state qualifying test last week.
“If he does well enough than he gets a free ticket to Washington, D.C. to compete at the national level,” said Mar.
The Geographic Bee tests the students’ knowledge in geography, and includes map, globe, chart, and graph skill questions.
.
