An epic contest of geographic knowledge went down this past Wednesday in the Union Gardens. Many teams participated, but only one came out victorious. It was an event that confirmed that Geography Awareness Week is on the map for students here at the university.
The Bowl consisted of 9 rounds at 10 questions a piece. Categories included ‘Waters of the West’ and ‘Wyoming Geography.’ Prizes for placing in the event included t-shirts, University of Wyoming-branded water bottles and stickers. Pizza was also provided with beer available for purchase from the Gardens bar. Many students attended the event including Rhiannon Jakopak, whose team ‘Squirrel Saturday’ took third place in the Geography Bowl.
“This was great fun,” said Jakopak. “This was my first time to the Geography Bowl and I learned a lot.”
Geography Awareness Week is an annual event put on by the geography department that exists to raise consciousness about the importance of the subject. The week consists of panel discussions, the Geography Bowl, and a film festival. With the wide variety of events that take place, there’s an event for everyone to enjoy and learn at. One man who supports this event is Rob Rust, who helped officiate the Geography Bowl on Wednesday.
“With the geography department closing, I think it’s important to raise awareness,” Rust said. “Geography is not going away. It might be going away as a department here, but geography is one of the core disciplines of academia and it’s not going away worldwide.”
With the geography department going away at our university, many may be concerned that geography will be going away for good here in Laramie. Rust hopes that the Geography Awareness Week will continue in coming years, but with the geography department, who typically puts on the weeklong event, being cut the security of the event is in question.
Luckily, the Geography Awareness Week will still run its full course this year and will conclude with the River Film Festival at 5:30 p.m. tonight in the Berry Center Auditorium. The films that will be shown are “Our Wild” by Ben Kraushaar, “The Story of Chicken Raper” by Rig to Flip, “A River’s Reckoning” by American Rivers, “Milk and Honey” by American Rivers and “Run Wild and Free” by Pacific River. To top it off, snacks will also be provided, so nobody should go hungry tonight. Anyone who missed the other events of Geography Awareness Week is welcome to attend this event.
