Andrew Wojtanik was the winner of the National Geographic Bee

National Geographic Bee

The National Geographic Bee is an annual geography contest sponsored by the National Geographic Society. The bee, held every year since 1989, is open to students in the fourth through eighth grade in participating American schools.The entities represented at the national level are all fifty U.S....

 hosted by Alex Trebek in 2004, and the National Geographic World Championship

National Geographic World Championship

The National Geographic World Championship is a biennial, two-day long international geography competition typically held in late July or early August. The Championship was first held in 1993, and is sponsored by the National Geographic Society...

 in 2005. To get to the National Geographic Bee finals, he survived two tiebreakers to advance to the final round against 13-year-old Matthew Wells of Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

, beating him to win a $25,000 scholarship. He credits his success to a 384-page book he compiled, which is now an official study guide for the Bee, named "Afghanistan to Zimbabwe: Country Facts That Helped Me Win the National Geographic Bee." Andrew lived in Overland Park, Kansas

Overland Park, Kansas

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 149,080 people, 59,703 households, and 39,702 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,627.0 people per square mile . There were 62,586 housing units at an average density of 1,102.9 per square mile...

 and in 2008 graduated from Blue Valley West High School

Blue Valley West High School

Blue Valley West High School is a fully accredited public high school located in Overland Park, Kansas, and one of five currently operated high schools in the Blue Valley Unified School District. The school opened in August 2001, and has a current enrollment of approximately 1600 students...

. His family has since moved to Florida.

He currently attends Georgetown

Georgetown University

Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...

, majoring in International Politics. There, he serves as events director for the Georgetown College Democrats

College Democrats

The College Democrats of America is the official youth outreach arm of the Democratic Party. It consists of over 100,000 college and university students from across the United States. The organization has served as a way for college students to connect with the Democratic Party and Democratic...

and is active in many other campus organizations.