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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, Ju ne 14 ,2 01 8 | 26 AyA Kitchens of oAKville 1195 north service roAdwest 905.847.1522 ayaoakville.com To learn more, visit orangedoorproject.ca BN/Charitable Registration #: 828431015RR0001 The Orange Door Project gives youth housing, support and hope. Help give our youth a place to call home. 100% of funds raised will benefit a charity in your community. An Oakville Abbey Park High School student has placed third in a na- tional geography challeng- e.Ryan Sharpe, who's in Grade 9, won $2,000 for his third-place finish in the 2018 Canadian Geographic Challenge. As part of his prize, he will also be going on an East Coast cruise trip to Sable Island to see the fa- mous wild horses. Ryan said he's pretty thrilled about doing so well as a first-time finalist. "Placing third in all of Canada was, to be honest, a surprise," he said. "I've al- ways enjoyed geography, but to make it this far in a countrywide competition has been a truly great expe- rience." Ryan, 14, figures he will go into the geography field someday. "As far as looking into the future goes, I don't know precisely what I want to do, but it will likely re- late to geography in some way." For Ryan, participating in the challenge was a great way to test his knowledge about a subject he really enjoys. "I like how geogra- phy gives you the power to make connections between everything that surrounds us," he said. The competition was very intense - other com- petitors said there was a wide variety of questions, covering many different branches of geography. There were also video questions from notable people that were filmed all around the world. The competition's win- ner had some experience. Third time was the charm for Ottawa's Wil- liam Chapman, who won in front of a packed house at the Canadian War Museum in the nation's capital. First-time finalist David Landry, also of Ottawa, clinched the No. 2 spot, af- ter a nail-biter of a final that saw the three compet- itors tied or within one point of each other through eight rounds of tough ques- tions. Returning finalists Jake Douglas and Evan Fingerhut came in fourth and fifth, respectively. Host Myèlene Paquette, an adventurer best known for being the first person from the Americas to un- dertake a solo crossing of the North Atlantic Ocean by rowboat, praised the in- credible effort and breadth of knowledge of all 20 of this year's finalists and en- couraged them to continue their geography studies. "This is a topic that is close to my heart and has always driven me to go fur- ther and learn more than I thought possible," she said, adding that she looks for- ward to sharing her story with students across Cana- da later this year as The Royal Canadian Geograph- ical Society's newest ex- plorer-in-residence. This year's Canadian Geographic Challenge was bigger than ever, with more than 20,000 students participating. Once again, thanks to One Ocean Expe- ditions, the finalists will have a chance to explore Canada's East Coast this summer on a 10-day cruise, stopping at Percé, Que., Sa- ble Island, N.S., and New- foundland's Gros Morne National Park. The challenge, which is in its 23rd year, continues to be one of Canada's big- gest student competitions. This year, more than 650 schools and more than 22,000 students participat- ed. Students went through classroom testing, and then each school champion faced off at the provincial/ territorial level, before heading to the nationals in Ottawa. There, they underwent two intense days of written testing and fieldwork, de- signed to assess their geo- graphical prowess. In the last round, they answered fast-paced geography triv- ia questions. COMMUNITY Oakville Grade 9 student places third in Canadian Geographic Challenge Ryan Sharpe of Oakville's Abbey Park High School placed third at the Canadian Geographic Challenge in Ottawa last month. Tanya Kirnishni/CanadianGeographic JULIE SLACK jslack@metroland.com