The AAA Travel High School Challenge (sometimes shortened to AAA Travel Challenge) was an annual travel-themed scholarship competition run by the American Automobile Association, open to students in grades 9–12 in the fifty United States and the District of Columbia. First run in 2003 as part of AAA's centennial celebrations, the competition became an annual event and a premier high school scholarship program for a time. The competition was notable for its national coverage[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
The National Finals were held yearly in Orlando, Florida. In its five years of existence, the contest awarded over $600,000 worth of scholarships. The 2007 competition featured a $20,000 top prize (down from $25,000 in past years), won by Samuel Brandt of Oregon. In addition, the 2007 competition, for the first time, also included a separate essay contest for those interested in seeking majors in travel-, tourism-, or hospitality-related careers.
Often compared to the National Geographic Bee, a middle-school competition, the AAA Travel Challenge featured a similar format, with a local, state, and national level, each with progressively tougher questions and material. Unlike the National Geography Bee, however, the AAA Travel Challenge stressed team competition, rather than individual achievement.
The 2007 competition was the last Challenge to take place. Afterwards, administrators opted for a one-year hiatus from the program. Challenge administrators had hoped to use this hiatus to work out and analyze the event "to develop strategies and tactics for an improved program." AAA decided that it would be best to find a single co-sponsor for the event, rather than the multiple sponsors who had supported the competition in previous years. Unfortunately, the recession and other factors made this difficult. On September 26, 2008, it was announced that the Challenge would be discontinued.[8]
Students were eligible to participate in the AAA Travel High School Challenge if they met the following requirements:[9]
The competition began in December, when registration on the AAA Travel Challenge Official Site opened. Eligible students could apply and create a unique username and password which they would later use for the Stage One Internet test. From 2007 onward, students could also indicate if they desired to participate in the travel career-related Essay Competition.
A student could, at any time, take a Practice Test offered on the Official Site, which gave a general sampling of questions that might have appeared.
For a specified period of time in January (usually 8–10 days), the Official Site would run the Stage One qualifying test. After students entered their unique user name and password, they would then proceed to the test.
The test consisted of 40 multiple-choice travel-themed questions to be completed in 15 minutes time (20 minutes from 2003 to 2006), with a countdown clock visible throughout the test. No two tests were alike, as the questions were picked from a pool of several thousand questions, with each test being "weighted" with an equal number of easy, medium, and hard questions. Neither reference materials (printed or electronic) nor help from another person was allowed, and this was agreed to when a student checked the "Integrity Oath" box during registration.
Questions had to do with destinations popular with American tourists, with most questions centering on the United States and foreign destinations such as Europe and East Asia.
The top five scorers in each state would advance to Stage Two (state of residence, not school, determined in which state one is competing for). In the event of a tie, the student(s) who used the least amount of time to answer questions would advance (from 2003 to 2006, random drawings initially served as tiebreakers). If a tie still existed, then, like in previous years, a random drawing determined who advances. These Top Five were usually notified 1–2 weeks after the testing period ended via e-mail. If one of the five was unable to continue, or if nothing was heard from after 72 hours of the notification e-mail being sent, then the next highest scorer would be notified.
Once all five in each state and D.C. had been confirmed (255 across the nation), each student would be sent an information packet with instructions for Stage Two.
Stage Two was another 40 multiple-choice question, 15-minute test (20 minutes from 2003 to 2006), this time, however, written and taken at the nearest AAA Office nearest to the contestant's home. The test was monitored by a AAA Official. The time period for taking the test was usually three days in March, and arrangements (through AAA) had to have been made with the office at which the test would be taken.
Questions again focused on tourist destinations, but this time become more global in nature and slightly more obscure. It is unknown whether tests were the same throughout the nation or if each state or even each individual received different tests, like Stage One.
The winner, the top scorer of the five in each state, was notified approximately one week after the testing period finishes. If the winner was unable to proceed, then the next highest scorer would notified. In the event of a tie for the top score, a random drawing determined the winner.
The National Finals were a four-day event usually held in early to mid May. Each of the 51 Stage Two Winners and one chaperone per finalist were awarded an all-expenses paid trip to Orlando, Florida, for the competition. Additional guests could attend, and arrangements could be made through AAA Travel at the expense of the Finalist's family.
The first phase was a preliminary test taken by all 51 finalists, usually in a conference room held at a sponsor hotel. The test was once again a monitored 40-question multiple choice written test to be completed in 20 minutes. Questions at this level were at their hardest yet, focusing mostly on global destinations, some familiar, but most obscure.
The top 24 scorers on the written test were invited back to participate in Phase Two (random drawings served as tiebreakers). These 24 contestants were then divided into six preliminary groups, consisting of four participants each. Contestants within each group then participated in a single-elimination oral competition, answering more questions covering the material. One winner emerged in each group, and these six winners advanced to the second half of Phase Two.
The second half of Phase Two was an individual competition introduced for the 2006 Challenge. The six finalists (which, in 2006 only, were actually the twelve finalists who had participated in the team rounds) were brought out and assigned a random order to sit in on the stage. Each contestant was then asked a question, one by one, by moderator Dr. Marc Mancini. In a manner similar to the National Spelling Bee, if the student answered correctly, he advanced to the next round. If not, then the student was eliminated. If all the contestants in a round answered incorrectly, then all were brought back to participate in the next round.
The winner was the contestant who managed to answer his/her question correctly while everyone else in the round answered incorrectly, in addition to one more question. Such procedures allowed for ties for second and third place, as shown in the results of the 2006 and 2007 competitions.
After another day to enjoy Orlando, a banquet was held at the Hard Rock Live that evening. Prizes were officially awarded as well as other miscellaneous closing remarks and "housekeeping notes".
The Top 12 scorers, with random drawings acting as tiebreakers, advanced to the second phase of the competition. These finalists were usually announced about 30 minutes after testing had completed. Afterwards the twelve finalists stayed for a briefing and practice round, as all were later released to enjoy Orlando.
The next day the 12 remaining contestants as well as the 39 other finalists and families gathered for the Final Round, usually at Universal Orlando (this competition was sometimes open to the public). The 12 Finalists had been divided into four teams of three contestants each. Three game-show style rounds were conducted. The first featured two teams versus each other. The second put the other two teams against each other. The winners of each of these rounds advanced to a final head-to-head round.
A round lasted 20 minutes, and featured these types of questions:
The winner of the round was the team with the highest score. The team competition was discontinued in 2007.
All participants in Stage One were given the option of printing a Certificate of Participation after completion of the Internet exam.
Individual states awarded miscellaneous prizes to participants of Stage Two, but none were awarded by AAA itself.
All Stage Three finalists were awarded the following by AAA and various sponsors:
The Top 24 Semifinalists (12 from 2003 to 2006) each received an additional $1,000 US Savings Bond and a trophy different from other finalists.
Top Prizes
‡Due to a four-way tie for third place, a last minute executive decision doubled the Third Place prize money to $10,000, which was to be split evenly among the four students ($2,500 each).
No two First Place champions (either individual or team) came from the same state. Each of the following states had two top finishers: Virginia, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Indiana, Colorado, Louisiana, Ohio, and Washington. The two who came from both Colorado and South Carolina were pairs of siblings.
| Year | First place winner | Home state | Second place winner | Home state | Third place winner | Home state |
| 2003 | Felix Peng | Connecticut | Kellie Packwood | Indiana | -- | |
| Alexander Smith | North Carolina | John Solter | Kansas | |||
| Steven Young | Virginia | David Beihl | South Carolina | |||
| 2004 | Chris Meyer | South Dakota | Drew Fleeter | Virginia | -- | |
| Nicholas Jachowski | Maryland | Matthew Moran | Massachusetts | |||
| Joshua Baumgartner | Texas | Thomas Beihl | South Carolina | |||
| 2005 | Pratyush Buddiga | Colorado | Bill Isaacs | Ohio | -- | |
| Carson Qing | New Jersey | John Rice | North Dakota | |||
| Michael Oh | New York | Katherine (Katie) Schulz | Louisiana | |||
| 2006 | Individual: Karan Takhar | Massachusetts | Individual: Akshay Buddiga | Colorado | Individual: Matthew Alexander | Ohio |
| Individual: Alexander King | Washington | |||||
| Team: Andrew Lai | California | Team: Ben Schwartz | Rhode Island | -- | ||
| Team: Thimal de Alwis | Louisiana | Team: Matthew Alexander | Ohio | |||
| Team: Erik Bolt | Indiana | Team: Karan Takhar | Massachusetts | |||
| 2007 | Samuel Brandt | Oregon | Yeshwanth Kandimalla | Georgia | Dan Auerbach | Illinois |
| Neeraj Sirdeshmukh | New Hampshire | |||||
| Dallas Simons | Tennessee | |||||
| Stephen Kirkpatrick | Washington | |||||