AAA's Third Travel Challenge Strives to Improve Travel and Geographic Literacy Among Teens - Good Luck!

Scholarship Contest Offers High School Students Trip to Universal Orlando to Compete for More Than $100,000 in Scholarships

AURORA, Ill., Jan. 3 -- It's time for Illinois and Northern Indiana high school students to sharpen their skills in travel and geography to answer questions like: If you're visiting the Cowboy Hall of Fame, what state are you in? Which country is called the "Land of the Golden Fleece"? Where will you find the gateway to Acadia National Park? Teenagers with answers to questions like these may be well on their way to an expense-paid trip to Orlando to compete for a first-place $25,000 college scholarship.

The trip and scholarships are part of the AAA Travel High School Challenge, a contest that begins with a 40-question online competition January 10-19. The contest aims to increase teens' travel knowledge and geographic literacy while creating awareness of career opportunities in the travel and tourism industry.

The national contest is open to all U.S. students in grades 9-12 (public, private or home-schooled), with winners from all 50 states and the District of Columbia traveling to Universal Orlando in May 2005 to compete for scholarships totaling more than $100,000.

"The AAA Travel High School Challenge is more than just a geography contest -- it sharpens students' travel literacy by focusing on many aspects of travel and tourism destinations, including culture, transportation and history," says Kris Lathan, spokesperson for AAA Chicago.

"The Travel Challenge encourages teens to study travel geography and to consider careers in travel and tourism, to perhaps one day join the millions of Americans working in this industry."

The contest begins with a 40-question online quiz available from January 10-19 at http://www.aaa.com/TravelChallenge . The top five scorers in each state will take a proctored, written exam in early March. The top scorer in each state wins an expense-paid trip for two to compete for one of three first-place $25,000 scholarships in the national finals, which will be held May 7-10 at Universal Orlando.

Interested students can sign up for the contest any time until January 19.

More than 10,000 students participated in the Travel Challenge in 2004. Corporate sponsors for the contest are Continental Airlines, Holland America Line, Marriott, MBNA America, Pleasant Holidays, and Universal Orlando.

For more than 100 years, AAA has represented the interests of the nation's motorists and served as an advocate for various traffic safety and travel related issues. AAA Chicago has served that role in Illinois since its founding in 1906.

AAA Chicago offers automotive, travel, insurance and financial services. It is part of The Auto Club Group (ACG), the largest affiliation of AAA clubs in the Midwest, with 4.1 million members in eight states. ACG clubs belong to the national AAA federation, a not-for-profit organization, with more than 46 million members in the United States and Canada.