Geography Awareness Week will be held Nov. 16-22 and will feature a seminar by Nathan Watermeier, Nebraska state GIS coordinator, a screening of the documentary “The Geospatial Revolution,” the popular Geography Bowl and a student photo contest.
“We start working on Geography Awareness Week during the summer, usually creating the questions for the bowl and asking for donations,” said Kristin Sorensen, graduate student and member of the Geography Student Organization. “We spend between five and 10 hours a week getting ready after that. In total, it’s about 50-75 hours of work prior to the week and during the week we spend between 20 and 35 hours maintaining the events.”
GSO sponsors Geography Awareness Week each year. The week-long activities are part of a campaign by the National Council for Geographic Education to spread and share the importance of geography.
This year’s theme for Geography Awareness Week is “The Future of Food.”
“Whether a geographer or not, the events planned include something that should be of interest to everyone,” said Paul Hanson, associate director of UNL’s School of Natural Resources. “In particular, Nathan Watermeier’s talk, given on GIS Day, will provide an interesting discussion about the importance of maps and geospatial data to the state of Nebraska. The Geography Bowl is always enjoyable, as it allows teams of students from across UNL to compete for prizes by answering questions about their understanding of the world’s cultural and physical environments.”
Geography Awareness Week events are free and open to the public. The complete event schedule is as follows:
Nov. 16-22: photo competition in Hardin Hall
Nov. 17: Geography Bowl at 6 p.m. in Nebraska Union Auditorium on UNL’s City Campus. More than $200 worth of prizes will be awarded.
Nov. 19: Watermeier will present “Implications of the Nebraska Spatial Data Infrastructure to the public, local, state, and federal government” at 3:30 p.m. in Hardin Hall Auditorium. More details about his seminar are available at http://go.unl.edu/wst7.
Nov. 20: movie night showing of the documentary “The Geospatial Revolution” at 6 p.m. in Hardin Hall Auditorium. Pepsi and popcorn will be served.
“Geography Awareness Week isn’t just for geography majors,” Sorensen said. “It’s a time to learn more about the world, current events and the people within the world community. It combines geography, history, current events, political science and art into one fun week of activities.”
For more information, go to http://events.unl.edu/2014/11/16/92484/.
