Jun Chen, an 8th grade student at Cleveland’s Margaret Green Jr. High, recently won the Mississippi Geography Bee and is now headed to Washington, D.C., to participate in the National Geography competition. Jun won the Mississippi contest by correctly answering the question "What country has a constitutional monarchy and is a major importer of coal in Asia?" Japan is the answer. He continues a tradition of strong geographical knowledge at Margaret Green, which won the very first Mississippi Geography Bee 25 years ago, and also won it in 2010 and 2012. American History teacher Pat Kirkpatrick, who shares responsibility for this winning streak, will accompany Jun to Washington. They stopped by the Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University to pick up enough "I Love the Mississippi Delta" buttons to give to the 53 contestants in the national competition. Students from all 50 states, plus those representing US Territories, Department of Defense schools, and Washington D.C. will compete. When asked how he has become so well-informed about geography, Jun said he reads a lot.
