MINSTER — AJ Heitkamp, eighth grade, son of Brad and Tracy Heitkamp, won the 2016 ‘school-level’ National Geography Bee.

The school bee was held in the Minster Elementary School large group instruction room on Jan. 13.

This year’s participants were:

5th grade: Cameo Cedarleaf, Matthew Niekamp, and Dillon Watercutter.

6th grade: Austin Rupert, Reddy Bernhold, and Jack Kohne (sub for Colton Robbins).

7th grade: Eric Schmidt (Runner – up), Nathan Droesch, and Mara Blanke.

8th grade: Austin Felice, Logan Heitkamp, and AJ Heitkamp (Champion).

Championship Tie-Breaker Questions were:

1) Gray Wolves were once wiped out of Yellowstone National Park, but have made a comeback in recent years due to conservation efforts. Yellowstone National Park is located in Wyoming, Montana and which other state?

2) In the popular book series Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling, Harry catches the train to Hogwarts and the Kings Cross station in what major European city?

3) British Columbia’s largest city hosted the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup championship game. Name this city.

Answers: 1) Idaho 2) London 3) Vancouver

AJ will now take an online geography exam to determine eligibility for state competition. They will find out if AJ will advance in competition in a few weeks.

The school would like to extend congratulations to all 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students for their participation, to the finalists of each class, and to AJ for a job well done.

Anyone can brush up on their geography skills by going online at www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee, which posts 5 new questions daily from past National Geographic Bees.