Nov. 14, 2007
WASHINGTON (Nov. 14, 2007)-- George Mason is presenting "Coach L's World Ball Night" at the Patriots game against the Dayton Flyers on Saturday, November 17 at 7 p.m. Coach L has teamed up with My Wonderful World, the National Geographic-led geography awareness campaign as part of celebrating Geography Awareness Week. GeoEye, a local company and a premier provider of satellite/aerial imagery and geospatial information, is a joint sponsor for the game.
This fun family event will feature an exciting half-time program showcasing local students, the world's largest map of Asia and world basketballs. Students will have a chance to win a world basketball and other prizes such as maps, t-shirts and globe beach balls. Alan Merten, George Mason University president, Allen Carroll, National Geographic's chief cartographer, and Allan Falconer, chair of George Mason's geography department, will attend.
Together with Coach Larranaga, Falconer developed the idea for the World Ball-- a regulation basketball that is also a globe providing a scale representation of the location and areas of the continents. This past summer, 1,500 campers at Jim Larranaga's Boys Basketball Camp were among the first to get their hands on Mason's World Ball.
"I'm looking forward to this event," said Larranaga. "Our philosophy at George Mason has always been that athletics and academics go hand in hand. This is a fun event that should help kids realize that geography is important, that education comes first."
Mason partnered with the National Geographic Society and the Geographic Information System (GIS) software company ESRI to ensure the ball is both an accurate scale globe and an official NCAA basketball. Two different designs--one featuring Larranaga's summer camp logo and one featuring George Mason University's logo--have been produced. In addition to being distributed at Larranaga's summer camp, the balls will be used to promote geography literacy and strengthen the association between sports and academic endeavor.
My Wonderful World, a National Geographic-led public engagement campaign to give U.S. students the power of global knowledge, is hosting multiple activities to celebrate Geography Awareness Week -- Nov. 11-17, 2007 -- in the Washington, D.C., metro area. Activities include a 10,000 world map giveaway to area students; an interactive mapping tour in partnership with Google Earth, ESRI, the Smithsonian and Asia Society; and an NCAA Division I basketball game at George Mason University. Geography Awareness Week is part of Geography Action!, an annual conservation and awareness program for schools and students in grades K through 12, designed to educate and excite youngsters about the world's natural, cultural and historic treasures. This year's spotlight on Asia, the world's largest continent, is National Geographic's second stop on a five-year journey focusing the geographic lens on five world regions.
To bring tools of global knowledge to area classrooms, the My Wonderful World campaign is giving away 10,000 world maps and posters during Geography Awareness Week. Social studies classrooms of public schools in D.C.; Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax counties in Virginia; and Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland will receive My Wonderful World posters and world maps. Maps and posters will also be distributed through local events in the surrounding area.
In recognition of Geography Awareness Week's Asia theme, visitors to MyWonderfulWorld.org will find a celebration of the foods, festivals, art and animals of Asia with geo-tours produced in collaboration with Google Earth, ESRI, the Smithsonian Institution and Asia Society. Geo-referenced to show not only what but where-- these exciting tours use the latest satellite imagery, and include quizzes, video and beautiful photography from National Geographic.
My Wonderful World and the National Geographic Society encourage parents, teachers and kids to explore and learn about the world during Geography Awareness Week and throughout the year. In addition to these highlighted activities, My Wonderful World and community organizations are also offering a day of free Mandarin classes at Jabberü (a local language institute), interactive GIS activities at the National Zoo, a lecture by renowned photographer Michael Yamashita and other geographic activities. For more information on the week's activities, visit http://mywonderfulworld.typepad.com/ or http://mywonderfulworld.org/continents/asia
My Wonderful World campaign (MyWonderfulWorld.org) is designed to give U.S. students the tools to become more informed global citizens. The goal of the five-year, multimedia program is to improve the geographic literacy of young people ages 8-17 by motivating parents and educators to make geography more available and accessible in school, at home and in their communities.
The National Geographic Society is one of the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to "increase and diffuse geographic knowledge," the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 300 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 8,000 scientific research projects and supports an education program combating geographic illiteracy. For more information, visit nationalgeographic.com.
