Antonio de la Peña sees the world in his head. Literally.

Colorado's new Geographic Bee winner has memorized maps of the entire globe and can summon them on demand. Instead of playing video games or watching hours of TV a day, de la Peña spends his time wearing out his family's giant hardback National Geographic atlas and downloading and memorizing fun facts such as the world's ocean and wind currents.

De la Peña won last year's Virginia Geographic Bee and competed in the National Geographic Bee in Washington, D.C.. This year, his family moved to Colorado Springs and he had to defeat last year's Colorado champ at the local level to qualify for Friday's Colorado finals at the University of Denver.

De la Peña had a rough start Friday, missing his first question, then got his nerves under control and scored perfectly in the final rounds to capture Colorado's title.

De la Peña's winning question required him to identify the country on the Horn of Africa where Dire Dawa is located. For those without maps in their heads, the answer is Ethiopia.

This year, de la Peña plans to take his winning ways to Washington.

"I hope to win the nationals, too," he said Friday.

During the competition, Antonio's father, Sergio de la Peña, bowed his head unable to watch as he son confidently answered question after question. When Sergio was his son's age, he was busy working farm fields near Roswell, N.M..

Born in Mexico, Sergio immigrated with his parents as a child. He remembers picking cotton, irrigating fields and when he was lucky, getting to ride on a tractor.

Antonio's grandfather never went to school a day in his life. His grandmother attended school until the sixth grade.

Both earned their green cards, but never learned English. They always told their children to work hard and aspire to a better life.

Sergio de la Peña did his parents proud, rising to the rank of colonel in the Army and taking his wife and children around the world.

The family spent nine years overseas, primarily in Germany and South America. Antonio was born in Germany and learned Spanish attending school in Chile.

Sergio de la Peña is now stationed at Peterson Air Force Base and works for the Northern Command. He serves as a liaison with military contacts in Mexico and Canada. He beamed with pride after his son captured the title Friday.

"God's given him a great talent and he's been able to develop it," Sergio de la Peña said.

Also cheering on Antonio was his mom and teacher, Vanessa, his three younger sisters, Olivia, 12, Sofia, 8, Lourdes, 7, and his little brother Diego, 3.

Vanessa de la Peña knew her son had a knack for maps when she found detailed drawings he made of their neighborhood in Chile when he was in third grade. She bought him the only map book she could find there - a Rand McNally Road Atlas.

Then, when they came back to the U.S. and Antonio was in the fourth grade, their homeschooling group was participating in the Geographic Bee. Antonio was hooked. By fifth grade, he placed fifth in the Virginia Bee and kept gobbling up geography tidbits until he won bees in two states.

In addition to being a geographic whiz, Antonio also is studying Chinese and plays the piano in competitions.

His piano skills and ease with memorization come from his mom's side of the family.

Her father was a piano prodigy who was playing at Carnegie Hall by the time he was 8. Vanessa de la Peña was stunned when Antonio told her he could visualize entire maps.

"He sees it. He remembers the countries, the capitals and the borders," she said.

Antonio hopes to go to Harvard, but should his plans change, his victory Friday meant he won a half-scholarship to the University of Denver, worth about $80,000. He also scored $100 in cash, a globe and geographic software called Arcview.

Placing second was Garrett Mayberry, 14, of Arvada, who beat out his twin brother, Colin, to make it to the finals. And capturing third was sixth-grader John Prose of Lakewood, whose sister, Kathryn, won the 2003 Colorado Geographic Bee.

mccrimmonk@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2502

Back to Top