Geography Club Participates in National Geography Week
If you’re walking over the bridge this week, you might see some members of the Geography Club offering freebies, but with a catch: you have to know some geography first. They’re doing it in honor of National Geography Week, in the hopes of getting more people interested in geography.
Passersby who choose to play draw numbers out of a bowl. Club members ask the question that matches the number drawn; typical questions include where things are located and capital cities. The first right answer wins candy; the second right answer wins flag stickers; and the third right answer wins a choice from several prizes, such as inflatable globes and Wisconsin state flags.
As of Tuesday, members estimated that about fifty people had played.
National Geography Week is sponsored by the National Geographic Society, which also publishes the magazine.
On Tuesday I visited them on the bridge. First I won an inflatable globe, then I interviewed Geography professor Kenneth French and the club’s co-president Emily Rugg. She said the organization has about fifteen members and meets every three weeks. They plan ways to promote awareness of geography, such as geographically related field trips.
Describing the club’s activities, Rugg said, “It’s to promote geography in school and this is a good way to get people involved.”
They said that a Geography major can lead to a large number of carreers, such as biogeography and mapmaking. Geographer help the Census, and advertisers and politicians use human geography to target their messages. Some aspects of archeology depend on geography.
The club plans to have a game night on Thursday at 7:00 in Molinaro 226, with geography games and board games, perhaps including Risk.