AREA STUDENTS TO TEST KNOWLEDGE AT STATE GEOGRAPHY COMPETITION

Three area students headed to Columbia this morning to test their global knowledge and a chance for a $25,000 college scholarship.

Neal Essner, a seventh-grader at St. Augustine School in Kelso, Eric Lynch, a seventh-grader at Louis J. Schultz School in Cape Girardeau, and Kyle Strickland, a sixth-grader at Jackson Middle School, all qualified for state-level competition in the 1997 National Geography Bee.

Essner is the son of Jerome and Beverly Essner of Scott City. Lynch is the son of Fred and Robin Lynch of Cape Girardeau. Strickland is the son of John and Molly Strickland of Jackson.

The students are among 100 participants who qualified for state competition after winning school-level titles and taking a written exam of geography questions prepared by the National Geographic Society, which co-sponsors the annual competition with Sylvan Learning Centers.

Competition begins at the University of Missouri today at 1 p.m. If the students are successful in the preliminary competition, they will advance to a final round at 3:30 p.m.

The winner of today's competition will receive $100 and other prizes, along with an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington with a teacher escort for the May 27 and 28 finals.

The student will compete against students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories. The national competition will award three college scholarships totalling $50,000.