Santos is Pacific Territories’ Geographic Bee rep

Santos

Marianas Baptist Academy’s Victoria Nicole Santos is once again pounding the books to prepare for a bigger challenge ahead, the National Geographic Bee finals set from May 22 to 26 in Washington, D.C. The 12-year-old will be representing the Pacific Territories after besting nine others.

This will also be the first time since 2008 that a CNMI bet made it to the National Geograpic Bee finals. Vinni Orsini was the first from the CNMI that represented the Pacific Territories.

National Geographic sent the final test that was held last April 1. The organizers would provide the airfare, hotel accommodations, and meals for the winning Pacific Territories representative,

“I’ve been practicing with my coach [Manuel Castro] after school and also at home. After I finish all my school work, I begin studying for the Geographic Bee,” said Santos, who transferred from Eucon International School—not Agape Christian School as earlier reporter—to MBA this year.

Santos first won in a school wide competition at MBA to earn the right of representing MBA regional competition where she finished top to reach the nationals.

“I practice everyday, except for holidays and special occasions. Usually, I always relax for a bit before I start studying geography,” added Santos, the eldest child of three kids by Ferdinand and Imelda Santos.

Castro, who teaches history and English at MBA, said this would be the first time that MBA is competing in the finals after finishing twice in the Top 5 of the Pacific Territories finals.

“Thank you Lord we finally made it. Although, it would be a lot harder since the competition will cover the whole world and not only the U.S. The languages, culture, and tribes of people, and famous landmarks and places,” added Castro.

Jabez Victoria (Grace Christian Academy-Saipan), Xue Zhen Qiu (Hopwood Junior High School), Guam’s Katherine Cruz (Bishop Baumgartner Memorial Catholic School), Napu Blas (Captain Henry B. Price Elementary School), and Brian Chan (Harvest Christian Academy), and American Samoa’s Sitivi Wong Mageo (Manumalo Baptist Academy), Tovi’o Aufata (Olomoana Elementary School), Victor Chen (Pacific Horizons School), and Aiden Siuloa (U.P. Coleman Elementary School) are the other Pacific Territories finalists.

Santos, whose favorite subject is mathematics, said she really likes joining various academic competitions. She is also part of MBA’s MathCourt and Academic Bowl teams.

Last March 7, Santos competed with Team CNMI in the MathCourt national finals in San Francisco. “I finished in the Top 30 in the individual event and 15th in the team. Most of the questions are algebra and geometry.”