EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of a series of Saturday profiles of area residents and their stories. To suggest a profile, contact features editor Burton Cole at bcole@tribtoday.com.

BOARDMAN — Future geography bee champion Brock Farris was in second grade when he found the atlas.

“Each year his elementary school held a Scholastic Book Fair, and I always let him select a couple books,” his mom, Stephanie Farris, recalled. “He looked at all the books and in the end, one of the books he selected was ‘National Geographic Kids World Atlas.'”

Brock, now 14 and wrapping up his eighth-grade year at Boardman Glenwood Junior High School, said, “I started looking at it, reading it and studying it as I got more interested.”

He remembers memorizing the capitals of all the countries. The atlas also ignited a passion to learn as much as he could about the makeup of the world.

“There is so much variety in it. You can’t know everything. There’s too much to know,” Brock said.

His mom summed it up: “He amazed me with what he learned and understood as a child and continues to astonish and amaze me as a young adult.”

For the second year in a row, Brock qualified for the March 27 National Geographic GeoBee state championship in Columbus as one of the top 100 students in Ohio. The winner would have advanced to the National Geographic GeoBee on May 18 to 21 in Washington.

All of that changed as public gatherings and events were called off because of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

Instead, National Geographic gathered the top 100 students from each state and U.S. territory on a YouTube channel April 17 with geography professionals and professors. “There were something like 2,600 people on the live feed,” Brock said.

Then some of the top qualifiers were pulled to another online event for a geography quiz using the questions that would have been asked at the nationals, had they been held.

“I got sixth out of about 1,000 people,” Brock said. “It may have been more. I don’t know the exact number.”

Categories included Current Events, Weird but True, National Landmarks and Parks, and Comparisons, such as “The coastline of Florida is similar to what other country?” Brock said.

The answer — Eritrea. Yes, that is a country. It’s in the Horn of East Africa, bordered by Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti and, on its Florida-like coastline, the Red Sea.

Studying places, climates and cultures are one thing. Seeing them for yourself — wonderful.

“We usually travel out of the country every year,” Brock said. “One year, we went to Saint Martin. It was interesting. When you actually get to experience it, it feels a lot different. Seeing it was a lot better than seeing it online and reading about it.”

Saint Martin — the French half of the island on the north — or Sint Maarten — the Dutch side on the south — is in the Caribbean Sea, and is known for its beaches, secluded coves, hills and mountain peaks, and French and Indian cuisine.

Places he’d like to see …

“There’s so many choices. I’d probably want to go to Italy or Greece. They seem interesting. I’m Italian, plus I’m studying Italian next year in school.”

Glenwood social studies teacher and geography bowl adviser Vincent Carnevale said of Brock, “He has excellent knowledge of maps and a terrific memory but the bee is more than that. Students must master multiple forms of geography, such as physical, economic and cultural, just to name a few.”

And there’s more to him than being the guy you’d want on your trivia contest team.

“Brock is really a bright, well-rounded, and polite young man. He is active in cross country and track, plays soccer, is a member of our robotics team, and plays the violin in our school orchestra,” Carnevale said.

Eighth grade is the final year of eligibility for the geography bowl. Brock said next year in high school, he plans to concentrate on soccer and track. He’s a defensive right back on the soccer field, and runs the 800 and 1,600 in track.

“In junior high, I did cross country. I got second in cross country,” Brock said. “I was really good in cross country.

“If I have free time or I need to clear my mind or anything, I just go for a run. If I’m ever bored, I just run down to the park and go for a run.”

For fun, he plays games that involve a knowledge of history and geography. “Most of my life, I’m just in sports and geography. There’s not much time to do anything else.”

Nor does he care to make a career out of his geographic prowess.

“I plan to be a pediatrician. I usually like working with kids, and I always wanted to be in the medical field. Pediatrician would be the perfect fit for that.”

Wherever in the world that may be.