Laborers International Local No. The McLean County Geography Bee is co-sponsored by Laborers International Local No. 362 and The Pantagraph. It is a competition for fifth graders from schools throughout the county.
Students compete in school geography bees, and the school winners advance to the county bee.
In McLean County there are 38 elementary schools housing fifth-grade classrooms. All were invited and 30 chose to participate. The co-sponsors provided each participating school with a variety of classroom supplies including maps, study guides, a video, charts, and curriculum guides. Two workshops were held to help teachers become familiar with those materials. With their teachers' and families' help, most McLean County fifth graders will spend five weeks studying and interpreting maps, climographs and population pyramids to prepare for both their school and county bees.