Jason Flowers has been an Advanced Placement (AP) United States History teacher at LASA for decades. This summer, he traveled to Ireland as the United States (U.S.) Geographic Champion team coach. The exam-taking championship was first held in 1993, which included two exams involving geographic skill testing activities.
LASA Liberator: Explain what National Geographic is. What do you do?
Flowers: National Geographic used to sponsor a geography competition for kids. I’m one of the people that runs the U.S. Geography Championships. We pick the four best geography students in the U.S. I’ve been coaching the U.S. team for 10 years. I’ve been to Russia, China twice, and Indonesia. This summer, we were in Ireland. We take the kids to the competition; it’s over a week. They take three big exams. They have to go into the community and do mapping. Then, they solve problems using the observations they made.
LASA Liberator: What made you want to join the National Geographic Team?
Flowers: It really kind of happened by accident. In 2014, LASA won the National History Bowl. The person [who] runs the National History Bowl also sponsors the U.S. geography team. He doesn’t like Russia, and the International Geography Olympiad (IGO) that year was in Russia; he asked for someone to go. He emailed quiz bowl coaches and asked for someone to go with the team to Russia. So, I just went, and then after the competition, I thought, “this is just super cool.” Then I told him, “I really want to be the coach and run this team.” [I] was very lucky, but it’s been pretty amazing.
LASA Liberator: How has National Geographic Olympiad impacted your life?
Flowers: I’ve worked with kids from all over the country. This year, we had two kids from New York, one kid from Virginia, and then one was down the road in College Station. I’ve learned a lot about geography. I’ve gotten to travel all over the world. It’s been an incredible opportunity to travel and just see the world, in addition to doing this really cool competition.
LASA Liberator: What is your favorite part of being on the National Geographic Team?
Flowers: You go to these competitions, and you get to meet these teachers and professors. Some of them are the ministry of education in their country! You just meet all of these interesting people that have all these interesting connections. A lady from the U.K. [United Kingdom], who was the head of the competition, is actually a knight. She got knighted by the queen for geography education.
LASA Liberator: What is the most challenging part about being on the team?
Flowers: Eastern European countries and Southeast Asian countries are very good at geography; Americans are not. Training the U.S. team to the point where we were able to win this year has been incredibly challenging, but it’s been a lot of fun.
LASA Liberator: What events have your team participated in recently?
Flowers: We won this year in Ireland. This summer, I worked at another international geography competition that was in Vienna. Last summer, I did IGO [International Geography Olympiad] and then worked at a history competition in Rome. I did another history competition in London this past summer. For Christmas break this year I’m going to Puerto Rico to help run an environmental science competition.
LASA Liberator: What is the greatest memory you have had being a part of the team so far?
Flowers: One of our kids got third place in the overall competition, [and] all four of the kids placed in the top 30. That’s how we won as a team. We didn’t find out that we won until hours and hours after the award ceremony. We were just all hanging out at an Airbnb, that moment when I got the spreadsheet and saw that we had won, it was incredible. We were all together and got to celebrate together.
