BUDA — Bureau Valley South Junior High School seventh-grader Kurt Bitting is the 2013 BVS Geography Bee champion. Eighth-grader Taylin Ritter is runner up.

Finalists also include eighth-grader Erica Buckman, seventh-grader Austin Catton, sixth-graders Seton Younggren and Jacob Callahan, fifth-graders Trent DeVenney and Isabella Gross and fourth-graders Saralyn Elmore and Logan Rinehart.

The geography bee begins in each classroom, fourth through eighth grade. After seven rounds, the top two winners from each class advance to the school geography bee final competition round, with Mae Jaggers, the geography coordinator, as moderator.