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Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez traveled to Yorba Linda to congratulate these students on mastering the geographical features that shape our planet
Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez traveled to Yorba Linda to congratulate these students on mastering the geographical features that shape our planet
Circling the globe with Peace Corps director
By AMANDA BECK
Yorba Linda Star
WINNERS LISTS
• Certificates of Excellance winners
• Certigicates of Distinction winners
Forget Carmen Sandiego. Where in the world is the Bay of Biscay? And what about a place called Swaziland?
The winners of this year’s Student Geography Awards know.
CAN YOU PAST THE TEST?
Nearly 300 local seventh grade students earned perfect scores on a geography test administered this year by the docents of the Nixon Library.
CLICK HERE to test your knowlege of the subject with the following quiz.
And so does Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez, who traveled to Yorba Linda on Friday to congratulate these students on mastering the geographical features that shape our planet.
“The world is a confusing place, dynamic and changing all the time,” said Vasquez, the keynote speaker at the awards ceremony.
It recognized those 902 students who had perfect (or nearly so) scores on a geography test administered this year to more than 2,000 seventh-grade students at 11 North County schools.
The event is coordinated annually by members of the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Docent Guild and attempts, in part, to commemorate the president’s love of geography.
Docents say this passion for trivia was part of Nixon’s strategy in understanding the cultures that surrounded him.
“President Nixon felt very strongly that if you don’t know where the countries are located ... then how can you get along with the people who live there?” said Dianne Sickles, a Nixon docent and this year’s contest chairwoman.
Since her group launched the program 10 years ago, it has become increasingly popular, drawing an ever-growing number of contestants, winners and on-looking parents.
In response, the docents made a special effort this year to secure a speaker such as Vasquez, who could inspire these children to continue their studies. He didn’t shy from the challenge.
“Someday when you’re a little older and thinking about something exciting to do ... I hope you’ll consider joining the Peace Corps,” Vasquez told his audience. “And if anyone doubts the courage, the bravery and the willingness of Americans to make a difference and work for peace today, you can tell them that last year the number of our Peace Corps volunteers was at a 28-year high.”
Read the full story in the April 8 issue of the Yorba Linda Star, delivered with the Orange County Register and available at locations throughout the city or online at www.ocregister.com/community/ecommunities/.