Going places: Frohna student to compete at geographic state bee

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correctly abbreviate United in Christ Lutheran School to UCLS.

What Missouri town derives its name from the municipality of Niederfrohna in the Saxony region of Germany?

That might be the type of question to light up the eyes of 14-year-old Joel Koenig but prompt confused looks from other contestants at the Missouri National Geographic State Bee when it's held March 31 in Columbia, Missouri.

The answer to the query is Frohna, nestled in the rolling hills of Perry County with a population in the neighborhood of 250 people.

Koenig, an eighth-grader, happens to be among the small number of residents and attends United in Christ Lutheran School.

Eighth-grader Joel Koenig studies after school March 9 at United in Christ Lutheran School in Frohna, Missouri.BEN MATTHEWS

He will be the fourth state qualifier the school has produced over the past six years, following a path traveled by fellow eighth-grader Megan Benkendorf, who went last year, and Adam and Nathan Lichtenegger, who qualified previously.

Koenig survived two rounds of competition at UCLS, including getting past Benkendorf, one of three remaining finalists in the championship round, to claim the school title.

"I made it to the second round a couple times in here but I never won the school before," said Koenig about the competition open to fourth to eighth graders. "Megan has been pretty dominant."

His answer of Nile River -- in reply to a question about a dam in Egypt -- proved the clincher for Koenig.

He made an educated guess, using general knowledge and reasoning that sometimes comes into play.

Koenig stayed on a roll.

He then took a National Geographic test online and qualified to be one of 100 semifinalist that will vie for the title of state champion on the University of Missouri-Columbia campus.

The state champion will receive $100 and a trip to Washington, D.C., to compete for the title of national champion at the National Geographic Society headquarters.

Among the prizes going to the national winner will be a $50,000 college scholarship and an all-expense-paid trip to the Galapagos Islands.

He's been sharpening for the big showdown by downloading a National Geographic application on his smartphone that quizzes users.

"You go on there and answer all the questions that you can, just to get prepared," Koenig said.

He said he's batting around .500 on the questions, which range from obvious to obscure.

With literally an entire world of possible questions, the randomness can seem unfair and strike down a well-prepared contestant quicker than one can say "Tanzania."

"The kids even notice that here," said UCLS principal Cheryl Honoree about the spectrum of difficulty after administering the first-round tests room to room and then quizzing the top 10 in one room for the school championship. "Sometimes a question would show up about Missouri. They all knew that. But then another one would come up about Tanzania. They're like, 'Tanza-who?'"

Koenig said math is his favorite subject, citing its logic and order, but the quirkiness and trivial nature of geography makes it fascinating and his runner-up.

"I like the interesting facts about geography, like the stuff you wouldn't expect," Koenig said. "That interests me. Like Guinness Book of World Records stuff, like where the largest pie was made. Stuff like that."

His family subscribes to National Geographic, and Koenig will pick one up at home much as he would a Sports Illustrated.

"I'm a big reader -- definitely in fifth and sixth grade," Koenig said. "You couldn't tear a book out of my hands if you tried, but now in seventh and eighth grade it's been a little more homework, so a little less reading."

He took geography in fifth and sixth grade and had a teacher he won't soon forget.

It was his mom, Robyn Koenig, who now has him for social studies and English in eighth grade.

"He had been in gymnastics since he's been 3," Robyn Koenig said.

"He's kind of been in that single; you're competing for yourself when you're in the sport. He has a little bit of a competitive nature."

Koenig is on his school's basketball and boys volleyball teams and also plays baseball in the summer.

He is trying to temper his competitive nature in what could be an intense environment at the state competition, where one wrong answer eliminates a contestant.

"I know if I put pressure on myself, I'm going to be really nervous when I get there," Koenig said. "Just try to relax and enjoy the trip to Columbia."

Koenig says his strength in geography is the U.S. and Europe, although he did know enough about Africa to grab the crown.

However, it can be a jungle out there. For every Nile River there's a Tanzania, located in eastern Africa.

Which brings Honoree to the point of having such scholastic competitions: It turns students into explorers.

"I think it does," Honoree said. "That's why I like it. For instance, Tanzania. Some day in their life, Tanzania is going to come up again, and they'll have a little bit of an inkling. They've been exposed to it."

And maybe Frohna will make its way onto someone else's map.

jbreer@semissourian.com

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