NEWS from AAA Oklahoma, Jan. 5 2007 – Starting Monday, Jan. 8, high school-age students in Oklahoma can go online to test their travel and geography skills in AAA’s 5 th Annual Travel High School Challenge. More than $100,000 in scholarships and prizes is at stake. The contest is open to students in grades 9 through 12, including home-schooled teens.

“We keep hearing reports that teenagers aren’t learning much these days about their world in terms of geography and culture,” said Chuck Mai, spokesman for AAA Oklahoma. “Americans are far less likely to have passports than our global peers and teens trail their international counterparts in geographic literacy.”

The online travel contest runs Jan. 8 through Jan. 16, 2007. To learn more and to enter the contest, teens should log on to www.AAA.com/travelchallenge. The quiz itself takes 15 minutes. Students may also pre-register before Jan. 8 and take a Practice Quiz.

State semi-finalists will go to the state finals in March. Each state champion will then compete in the national contest held in May at Universal studios in Orlando, Fla., all expenses paid, where students will compete in a high-stakes single-elimination bee worth $20,000 in scholarship money. Second and third places will receive $10,000 and $5,000 respectively.

The top five scorers in each state competition who express an interest in travel-related careers will have an opportunity to submit an essay in both state and national essay contests with $56,000 in travel-specific scholarship money up for grabs.

Sponsors of the Travel Challenge include Bank of America, Continental Airlines, Hard Rock Live Orlando, Marriott, Pleasant Holidays and Universal Orlando.