SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STUDENTS COMPETE IN REGIONAL CITIZEN BEE

Three Southeast Missouri high school students won the right to advance to the state Citizen Bee Competition April 17 in Jefferson City by capturing the top spots at the Regional Citizen Bee Competition held in March at Southeast Missouri State University.

Finishing first in the regional was Christie Johnson of Cooter High School. She received a $150 savings bond from Mercantile Bank.

Finishing second was Matt Edwards of Jackson High School.

He earned a $100 savings bond from Boatmen's Bank.

Aaron Whitmer of Clearwater R-1 High School in Piedmont finished third and received a $50 savings bond from Mercantile Bank.

Twelve area students competed in the event after advancing from similar local events in February. Local sponsors of the Citizen Bee were Mercantile Bank and Boatmen's Bank, both of Cape Girardeau, and Southeast.

The top three winners will vie to advance to the national competition when they meet in Jefferson City. Students selected for the national competition will compete for $48,000 in scholarships provided by the American Honda Foundation.

The competition is sponsored by the Close Up Foundation in Washington, D.C. Students competed in several rounds of written and oral questions on U.S. history, geography, economics, government and current events. The questions were derived from a study guide prepared by Close Up. Points were awarded for correct answers. The students with the most points were declared the winners.

The regional event was coordinated by Alberta Dougan, chairperson of the history department at Southeast.

The national Citizen Bee is sponsored by Burger King Corp., with additional national support from KPMG Peat Marwick, Milken Family Foundation and Kraft General Foods.

Nearly 150,000 students representing 4,000 schools nationwide have participated in the Close Up Citizen Bee Program this year. The Close Up Foundation is the largest U.S. government studies program and brings more than 22,000 high school students, teachers and others to Washington, D.C., for a series of weeklong seminars.