Orlando middle schooler Kaylan Patel places among top 10 in the National Geography Bee

Kaylan Patel, a seventh-grader at Windermere Preparatory School in Lake Butler, placed among the top 10 in the National Geography Bee last week.

The National Geography Bee is an annual competition designed to promote geographic knowledge among young students in the U.S, according to the National Geographic Society, which sponsors the event. It began with over 2.2 million students in December, and ended with Patel among the best.

Patel's winning results come as little surprise, however, as the wunderkind previously won back-to-back championships in 2018 and 2019 in the Florida State Geographic Bee, beating out more than 600,000 students across the Sunshine State to qualify for the National GeoBee.

Adding to his resume, Patel also received the Dynamic Storyteller Award from the NGS this year. He's won the school-level GeoBee, the first step in the competition, an impressive four times. He's participated in the U.S. Geography Olympiads. And he's competed in the International Geography Bee, earning fifth overall worldwide for his wealth of geographic knowledge.

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