Spelling Bees get all the attention lately. Every school wants one. However, it is not the only bee game in town.

At the state level competition of the National Geographic Bee March 30 at the Field Museum in Chicago, Clarendon Hills Middle School and Hinsdale Middle School students competed to represent Illinois at the national competition in Washington, D.C.

Michael Lyons, a Hinsdale seventh-grader at Clarendon Hills Middle School, has been school champion for the past  two years. Robert Day, a Hinsdale Middle School seventh-grader, won at the school level this year. After winning at their schools, both students took a qualifying exam to participate at the state level, limited to the top 100 scoring school champions in the state.

Students began the competition by answering questions in their social studies classrooms and eventually a top-25 emerged. The top 25 compete for the top 10 spots and then at an all-school assembly, there was a final round for the top spot.

National Geographic Bee questions are not simply naming a state capital or the longest river — that is so old-fashioned. There are geo-political questions, economic, historic and even geographic analogy questions. To practice for the contest, Michael and Robert had different tactics. Michael reviewed the five or so daily questions posted on the National Geographic Bee Web site and responded to e-mail questions from family members, some easy, some challenging. Robert read news magazines like Time, Newsweek and, of course, National Geographic. That’s it. No drilling, no studying, no flash cards. No parent coaching.

“We try to do just the five questions a day,” said his mom, Mary Lyons. “We’re just emphasizing Michael is a winner by making it this far.”

“Studying makes me want to travel even more and see everything the world has to offer,” Michael said,

Robert and his mother, Jennifer, also consider being able to compete at the state level exciting in and of itself.

“It was an honor,” Jennifer said. She remembers when Robert first became interested in the Geographic Bee.

“I dug out our atlas. Robert said, ‘You know, this atlas was printed in 1984, Mom.’ A lot had changed since then,” she said.

The 100 top test scorers gathered at the Field Museum on the morning of March 30 and were divided into groups of 20 in five separate rooms. Each student was allowed two tickets only, which for Michael meant his twin brother Tom and Mary accompanied him and dad Mike got updates via cell phone. Robert’s parents attended and his sister and aunt wandered the museum until the final round, when the room was opened to spectators.

The students answered four questions in turn, were given a break, and then asked four more questions. There were six students that answered all eight questions correctly.

Those students and the next four top scorers went on to a tie-breaking round. Michael lost his place in the first round when he missed a question on the climate in Mali, Africa. Robert made it to the top 10 but then lost his place on an analogy question: Portuguese East Africa is to Mozambique as Upper Volta is to what?

Robert considers the analogy questions to be the most difficult.

Students were allowed to ask for the question to be repeated or interrupt to have a word spelled, but only twice in the eight questions. The students were timed; only 15 seconds were allowed to respond.

“I didn’t know we were going to be timed. It was a little shocking,” said Robert.

In spite of timing, and the pressure, Robert is looking forward to next year.

“It really wasn’t stressful at all, because there was such a long waiting period between questions,” Robert said. “Most of the time I was trying to answer the others’ questions in my head.”

In the end, Robert ranked fifth in the state. Both boys are looking forward to next year. Many students have made multiple appearances at the contest and some have siblings that participated as well. Next year Robert and Michael will be even more prepared for the contest. The questions, which could easily be on a college level exam, will be just as difficult, but the format will be familiar.

The bee is organized by the National Geographic Society and this year, sponsored by JPMorgan Chase. At the state level, the stake is a $100 prize for first place and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington for the national contest. At the national level, the stakes are much higher. First prize in the national competition is a $25,000 college scholarship and $15,000 and $10,000 college scholarships for the second and third place winners. Last year’s winner was from Illinois.

The answer that escaped Robert, in case you have not thought of it already, was Burkina Faso. Portuguese East Africa is to Mozambique as Upper Volta is to Burkina Faso. It was on the tip of your tongue, wasn’t it?

Ideas and items for Hometown Hinsdale can be sent to Michelle Geoga at MGeoga@gmail.com.