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 National Finals are held in Orlando, Florida. Each year the contest has awarded over $150,000 in scholarships. The 2006 competition featured a $25,000 top prize, with the winner, Karan Takhar, walking away with over $30,000 in scholarship money.

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 2006 Competition) placed in the top six in previous AAA Travel Challenge National Finals, and/or received a $25,000 or $10,000 scholarship from the competition.

Procedure

Registration

The competition begins in late November, 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.

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 20 minutes time (a countdown clock is 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. In the event of a tie, a random drawing will determine who involved in the tie 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 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, 20 minute test, this time, however, written and taken at the nearest AAA Office nearest to the contestant's home. The test is monitored by a AAA worker. 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.

The National Finals is divided into three phases. 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.

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

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

A round lasts 20 minutes, and features these types of questions:
*Gateway Questions - worth 20 points, these are toss-up questions that can be answered by any team member buzzing in. If a contestant answers incorrectly, 20 points are deducted from the team's score, and the other team is then given a chance to answer. Team members are not allowed to consult with each other.
*Add-On Questions - posed to a team once one of their team members has answered a Gateway Question correctly. The question is 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 them"). Team members are allowed to consult with each other, and no points are deducted for an incorrect answer.
*Upgrade Questions - a special kind of add-on, where teams can significantly increase their point total. Before the question is posed, the team is given a category to which the question pertains. The team then may wager up to 100 or their total number of points, whichever is lower. If the question is answered correctly, the team is awarded that number of points. An incorrect answer deducts that number of points from the teams score.

The winner of the round is the team with the highest score.

The third phase is an individual competition introduced for the 2006 Challenge. The twelve finalists are brought back 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 manages to answer his/her question correctly while everyone else in the round answered incorrectly. Such procedures allow for ties for second and third place, as shown in the results of the 2006 competition.

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.

Question Sources

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

Prizes

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 12 Semifinalists each receive an additional $1,000 US Savings Bond and a trophy different from other finalists.

Top Prizes:
*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

Theoretically, unless restrictions are put in place, one student may win up to $37,000 in scholarships.

These prizes are subject to change.

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, Connecticut, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Indiana, Colorado, Louisiana, and Ohio. The two who came from both Colorado and South Carolina were pairs of siblings.2003

First Place
*Felix Peng (Connecticut)
*Alexander Smith (North Carolina)
*Steven Young (Virginia)

Second Place
*Kellie Packwood (Indiana)
*John Solter (Kansas)
*David Beihl (South Carolina)2004

First Place
*Chris Meyer (South Dakota)
*Nicholas Jachowski (Maryland)
*Joshua Baumgartner (Texas)

Second Place
*Drew Fleeter (Virginia)
*Matthew Moran (Massachusetts)
*Thomas Beihl (South Carolina)2005

First Place
*Pratyush Buddiga (Colorado)
*Carson Qing (New Jersey)
*Michael Oh (New York)

Second Place
*Bill Isaacs (Ohio)
*John Rice (North Dakota)
*Katie Schulz (Louisiana)
*Erik Bolt, of Indiana, was awarded a special $5,000 Scholarship for having the highest combined total score of both the state and the national level written tests.2006

First Place (Individual)
*Karan Takhar (Massachusetts)

Second Place (Individual)
*Akshay Buddiga (Colorado)

Third Place (Individual)
*Matt Alexander (Ohio) and Alexander King (Washington)First Place (Team)
*Andrew Lai (California)
*Thimal deAlwis (Louisiana)
*Erik Bolt (Indiana)

Second Place (Team)
*Ben Schwartz (Rhode Island)
*Matt Alexander (Ohio)
*Karan Takhar (Massachusetts)

External links

*AAA Travel Challenge Official Site