Getting fifth place at a national level geography bee may sound amazing, but imagine meeting the wife of vise president Joe Biden, Dr. Jill Biden, on the same day. Patrick Taylor ’20 is one of the smartest people in Iowa in geography. He didn’t only compete at state once or twice, but four times. Taylor won fifth place, second place and then he won first place two years in a row. These standings earned him a spot at the National geography Bee.

Taylor’s interest in geography started when he was very young. “I started looking at maps when I was three, my grandma would showed me maps, road maps in specific, which got me into them and then I started looking at world maps and atlases.” Taylor said. At that same age Taylor was able to memorize all 50 states, and each of their capitals.

Taylor already took AP human geography, during freshman year, and did very well in that class. He likes West High and would not want to change anything beside the competitiveness between students. His favorite subjects are biology and social studies. During his freshman year, Taylor joined model UN and in just one year he is already head of the organization and the de facto club president. Taylor enjoys Model UN because it make a person feel like they’re actually a politician, which is shown when he said “when you’re in Model UN it feels like you’re in the real United Nations.”

Even though Taylor has shown a great amount of compassion to geography and history, he hopes to become a doctor. Taylor’s best and closest friend, Fennell-Chametzky ’20 said “Although Patrick is very good at geography, that’s not what he wants to do in the future, he wants to become a doctor.” Taylor has always enjoyed classes like biology and chemistry and always wanted to learn more about life science. He wants to become a doctor mainly because he values health and life on earth, and it’s also a blend of practical skills and science.

Another thing Patrick wants to do in the future is to travel. Unfortunately he hasn’t got the chance to travel to a different country, but he already traveled to many states within the U.S. He would like to travel to France and Italy. He really just wants to travel outside the U.S. but he chose these two countries because of the diverse culture and food cuisines.

Taylor is a very hardworking person and likes to complete his duties with efficiency and perfection. Fennell-Chametzky described him as a kind and a very smart person, and he ended his interview by saying “Patrick is like a human atlas.”

Think you can beat Patrick in Geography, take this quiz.