AAA Travel High School Challenge

 

The AAA Travel High School Challenge (sometimes shortened to AAA Travel Challenge) is an annual travel-themed scholarship competition run by the American Automobile Association, open to students in grades 9-12 in the fifty United States and the District of Columbia. First run in 2003 as part of AAA's centennial celebrations, the competition has now become an annual event and a premier high school scholarship program. The competition is notable for its national coverage ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]} .

The National Finals are held in Orlando, Florida. In its five years of existence, the contest has awarded over $600,000 worth of scholarships. The 2007 competition featured a $20,000 top prize (down from $25,000 in past years), won by Samuel Brandt of Oregon. In addition, the 2007 competition, for the first time, also included a separate essay contest for those interested in seeking majors in travel-, tourism-, or hospitality-related careers.

Often compared to the National Geographic Bee, a middle-school competition, the AAA Travel Challenge features a similar format, with a local, state, and national level, each with progressively tougher questions and material.

Eligibility

Students are eligible to participate in the AAA Travel High School Challenge if they meet the following requirements (from the Official Site):

• Must be a legal US resident residing in a US state or the District of Columbia. If a student studies abroad but has their legal residence in the US, that student may participate, but must pay for their own travel expenses to US testing locations if they advance in the competition.
• Must be in grade 9, 10, 11, or 12.
• Must be at least 13 years old.
• Must be enrolled in an accredited public or private junior or senior high school, and/or a certified home school program (the school itself does not have to register).
• Must have parental consent, if under 18 years of age.
• Must not have (for the 2007 Competition) individually placed first, second, or third in previous National AAA Travel Challenges, nor placed first or second in team rounds of previous National AAA Travel Challenges

Procedure

Registration

The competition begins in December, when registration on the AAA Travel Challenge Official Site opens. Eligible students can apply and create a unique username and password which they will later use for the Stage One Internet test. From 2007 onward, students may also indicate if they desire to participate in the travel career-related Essay Competition.

A student may, at any time, take a Practice Test offered on the Official Site, which gives a general sampling of questions that may appear.

Stage One: Internet Test

For a specified period of time in January (usually 8-10 days), the Official Site will run the Stage One qualifying test. After students enter their unique user name and password, they will then proceed to the test.

The test consists of 40 multiple-choice travel-themed questions to be completed in 15 minutes time (20 minutes from 2003-2006), with a countdown clock visible throughout the test. No two tests are alike, as the questions are picked from a pool of several thousand questions, with each test being "weighted" with an equal number of easy, medium, and hard questions. Neither reference materials (printed or electronic) nor help from another person is allowed, and this is agreed to when a student checks the "Integrity Oath" box during registration.

Questions have to do with destinations popular with American tourists, with most questions centering around the United States and foreign destinations such as Europe and East Asia.

The top five scorers in each state will advance to Stage Two (state of residence, not school, determines in which state one is competing for). In the event of a tie, the student(s) who used the least amount of time to answer questions will advance (from 2003-2006, random drawings initially served as tiebreakers). If a tie still exists, then, like in previous years, a random drawing will determine who advances. These Top Five are usually notified 1-2 weeks after the testing period ends via e-mail. If one of the five is unable to continue, or if nothing is heard from after 72 hours of the notification e-mail being sent, then the next highest scorer will be notified.

Stage Two: The State Test

Once all five in each state and D.C. have been confirmed (255 across the nation), each student will be sent an information packet with instructions for Stage Two.

Stage Two is another 40 multiple-choice question, 15-minute test (20 minutes from 2003-2006), this time, however, written and taken at the nearest AAA Office nearest to the contestant's home. The test is monitored by a AAA Official. The time period for taking the test is usually three days in March, and arrangements (through AAA) must be made with the office at which the test will be taken.

Questions again focus on tourist destinations, but this time become more global in nature and slightly more obscure. It is unknown whether tests are the same throughout the nation or if each state or even each individual receives different tests, like Stage One.

The winner, the top scorer of the five in each state, is notified approximately one week after the testing period finishes. If the winner is unable to proceed, then the next highest scorer is notified. In the event of a tie for the top score, a random drawing determines the winner.

Stage Three: The National Finals

The National Finals are a four-day event usually held in early to mid May. Each of the 51 Stage Two Winners and one chaperone per finalist are awarded an all-expenses paid trip to Orlando, Florida, for the competition. Additional guests may attend, and arrangements may be made through AAA Travel at the expense of the Finalist's family.

Phase One: The Preliminary Test

The first phase is a preliminary test taken by all 51 finalists, usually in a conference room held at a sponsor hotel. The test is once again a monitored 40-question multiple choice written test to be completed in 20 minutes. Questions at this level are at their hardest yet, focusing mostly on global destinations, some familiar, but most obscure.

Phase Two: The Individidual Competition

The top 24 scorers on the written test are invited back to participate in Phase Two (random drawings serve as tiebreakers). These 24 contestants are then divided into six preliminary groups, consisting of four participants each. Contestants within each group will then participate in a single-elimination oral competition, answering more questions covering the material. One winner will emerge in each group, and these six winners will advance to the second half of Phase Two.

The second half of phase two is an individual competition introduced for the 2006 Challenge. The six finalists (which, in 2006 only, were actually the twelve finalists who had participated in the team rounds) are brought out and are assigned a random order to sit in on the stage. Each contestant is then asked a question, one by one, by moderator Dr. Marc Mancini. In a manner similar to the National Spelling Bee, if the student answers correctly, he advances to the next round. If not, then the student is eliminated. If all the contestants in a round answer incorrectly, then all are brought back to participate in the next round.

The winner is the contestant who managed to answer his/her question correctly while everyone else in the round answered incorrectly, in addition to one more question. Such procedures allowed for ties for second and third place, as shown in the results of the 2006 and 2007 competitions.

After another day to enjoy Orlando, a banquet is held at the Hard Rock Live that evening. Prizes are officially awarded as well as other miscellaneous closing remarks and "housekeeping notes".

The Team Rounds (2003-2006)

The Top 12 scorers, with random drawings acting as tiebreakers, advanced to the second phase of the competition. These finalists were usually announced about 30 minutes after testing had completed. Afterwards the twelve finalists stayed for a briefing and practice round, as all were later released to enjoy Orlando.

The next day the 12 remaining contestants as well as the 39 other finalists and families gathered for the Final Round, usually at Universal Orlando (this competition was sometimes open to the public). The 12 Finalists had been divided into four teams of three contestants each. Three game-show style rounds were conducted. The first featured two teams versus each other. The second put the other two teams against each other. The winners of each of these rounds advanced to a final head-to-head round.

A round lasted 20 minutes, and featured these types of questions:

• Gateway Questions - worth 20 points, these were toss-up questions that could be answered by any team member buzzing in. If a contestant answered incorrectly, 20 points were deducted from the team's score, and the other team was then given a chance to answer. Team members were not allowed to consult with each other.
• Add-On Questions - posed to a team once one of their team members had answered a Gateway Question correctly. The question was divided into three parts, with each part worth ten points (e.g. "Name the three North American national capital cities with the word 'City' in their name"). Team members were allowed to consult with each other, and no points were deducted for an incorrect response.
• Upgrade Questions - a special kind of add-on, where teams could significantly increase their point total. Before the question was posed, the team was given a category to which the question pertained. The team then could wager up to 100 or their total number of points, whichever was lower. If the question was answered correctly, the team was awarded that number of points. An incorrect answer deducted that number of points from the team's score.

The winner of the round was the team with the highest score. The team competition was discontinued in 2007.

Question Sources

• Selling Destinations, 4th Edition, by Dr. Marc Mancini (who also moderates the National Final Round and writes most of the questions)
• Exploring the World, First Edition, by the Travel Institute
• AAA TourBooks & TravelBooks
• AAA North America and World Atlases
• Encarta Encyclopedia
• Any other travel geography resource material

Prizes

Trivia Competition

All participants in Stage One are given the option of printing a Certificate of Participation after completion of the Internet exam.

Individual states may award miscellaneous prizes to participants of Stage Two, but none are awarded by AAA itself.

All Stage Three finalists are awarded the following by AAA and various sponsors:

• An all-expenses paid trip to Orlando, Florida, for them and one chaperone each.
• Two-day two-park passes for Universal Orlando (usually intended to be used during the National Finals)
• A $1,000 US Savings Bond
• Two $150 AAA Gift Cards (one for the finalist, and one for the chaperone)
• A trophy

The Top 24 Semifinalists (12 from 2003-2006) each receive an additional $1,000 US Savings Bond and a trophy different from other finalists.

Top Prizes

• 2003-2005
  • First Place (team), a $25,000 Scholarship for each team member
  • Second Place (team), a $10,000 Scholarship for each team member

• 2006
  • First Place (individual), a $25,000 Scholarship
  • Second Place (individual), a $15,000 Scholarship
  • Third Place (individual), a $10,000 Scholarship

• • First Place (team), a $10,000 U.S. Savings Bond for each team member
  • Second Place (team), a $5,000 U.S. Savings Bond for each team member

• 2007
  • First Place, a $20,000 Scholarship
  • Second Place, a $10,000 Scholarship
  • Third Place, a $5,000 Scholarship‡

‡Due to a four-way tie for third place, a last minute executive decision doubled the Third Place prize money to $10,000, which was to be split evenly among the four students ($2,500 each).

Essay Competition

• 2007
  • All Stage Two Finalists receive a $1,000 Scholarship for any travel, tourism, or hospitality-related career studies
  • The national essay winner receives a $5,000 Scholarship for any travel, tourism, or hospitality-related career studies

Champions

No two First Place champions (either individual or team) have come from the same state. Two of those who have placed either first, second, or third (team or individual) have come from Virginia, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Indiana, Colorado, Louisiana, Ohio, and Washington. The two who came from both Colorado and South Carolina were pairs of siblings.

Year	First Place	Home State(s)	Second Place	Home State(s)	Third Place	Home State
2003	Felix Peng	Connecticut	Kellie Packwood	Indiana	--
	Alexander Smith	North Carolina	John Solter	Kansas
	Steven Young	Virginia	David Beihl	South Carolina
2004	Chris Meyer	South Dakota	Drew Fleeter	Virginia	--
	Nicholas Jachowski	Maryland	Matthew Moran	Massachusetts
	Joshua Baumgartner	Texas	Thomas Beihl	South Carolina
2005	Pratyush Buddiga	Colorado	Bill Isaacs	Ohio	--
	Carson Qing	New Jersey	John Rice	North Dakota
	Michael Oh	New York	Katie Shulz	Louisiana
2006	Individual: Karan Takhar	Massachusetts	Individual: Akshay Buddiga	Colorado	Individual: Matthew Alexander	Ohio
					Individual: Alexander King	Washington
	Team: Andrew Lai	California	Team: Ben Schwartz	Rhode Island	--
	Team: Thimal de Alwis	Louisiana	Team: Matthew Alexander	Ohio
	Team: Erik Bolt	Indiana	Team: Karan Takhar	Massachusetts
2007	Samuel Brandt	Oregon	Yeshwanth Kandimalla	Georgia	Dan Auerbach	Illinois
					Neeraj Sirdeshmukh	New Hampshire
					Dallas Simons	Tennessee
					Stephen Kirkpatrick	Washington

References

External links

• AAA Travel Challenge Official Site

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