The 2010 National Geographic Bee. Photo by Jeff Martin

In between media interviews and on the way to a downtown hotel, Angela Wilson promised her son that they’d stop at Chipotle for lunch. This is where I meet them, and as much as I want to pepper 13-year-old Matthew with tough geography questions, I recognize that he’ll have bigger fish to fry starting today. Plus, he’s really digging that burrito.

Matthew Wilson

Matthew Wilson, a seventh-grader from Blessed Sacrament School in Chevy Chase, D.C., is D.C.’s representative to the National Geographic Bee. Starting with preliminary rounds today and ending with the Alex Trebek-hosted finale on Thursday, Wilson will square off against 53 competitors from across the country and the U.S. territories. (Since the bee started in 1989, representatives from Washington—the state—have won five times, followed by Michigan’s four and Kansas’ three. D.C. has never won.)

On the line isn’t just state pride and geographic dominance, but a $25,000 scholarship to college, a trip to the Galapagos and a chance to participate in the International National Geographic Bee in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2013. For Matthew, it’s also a chance to pick up where he left off in 2010, when as a fifth-grader he didn’t make it past the bee’s preliminary rounds.

So how did he fall into geography? Consider it a case of good parenting, he says. “My mom used to decorate my room with maps and stuff, and my dad is into it—he talks to me about where things are.”

For his mother, Angela, the whole thing was a bit of a surprise. “We didn’t know anything about the school bee,” she says. (Blessed Sacrament holds its own qualifying bee, and the winner takes a qualifying written test and then participates in the state-level bee; D.C.’s was in late March.) “In fifth grade when he was in the bee and he was in the final rounds, we were like, ‘What? How do you know all this geography?’ We had no clue.”

These days, Matthew says, he’s moved on from staring at maps at night and reading quiz books. His favorite study tool is Google Earth—especially its flight simulator. (Coincidentally, Google is a sponsor of the bee.) When he’s not keeping up on obscure seas and contested borders, Matthew plays a number of sports, from basketball to baseball. He also runs—far. On a recent trot around town, Matthews tells me, he went from his home in Upper Northwest all the way to the Washington Monument and back. I mapped it—that’s almost a half-marathon. (And he would have passed a few state-named avenues. Good study tool!)

Tom McCann, Matthew’s social studies teacher and host for the bee, said that he checked in on Matthew once a week to see preparations were going for the bee. “He’s a great student, very dedicated,” said McCann of Matthew. “He’s a self-motivator.”

His burrito finished and a 2 p.m. check-in at a hotel downtown awaiting—like all state champions, he’ll be put up by National Geographic at the Washington Plaza Hotel—Matthew and Angela have to head out. I still haven’t asked him to name the body of water between the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, and I don’t think I will. He’s got to be sharp for the bee.

The final round of the bee will be broadcast on the National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo WILD on May 24 at 8 p.m.