2013 National Geography Bee

This is an amazing story!  I watched the finals on Sunday afternoon.  Not only were all the contestants extremely knowledgeable, but they were also extremely polite.  Wouldn't it be fun to see our Esperanza scholars become this passionate about geography, math, chess, science, or some other academic endeavor!

2013 National Geographic Bee winner Sathwik Karnik of Massachusetts is congratulated by his father, Vishwanath; mother, Rathna; and brother, Karthik. (Rebecca Hale/ National Geographic photo)

 

• United States Sathwik Karnik was pretty certain he was going to win the 2013 National Geographic Bee competition, held May 22 in Washington, D.C., when his competitor in the final five-question duel could not name the city in China that contains the world’s largest deposits of rare-earth elements. 
  “I didn’t know I was going to win until the second question came. It was really anyone’s game until then,” Karnik, 12, told India-West by telephone from his Norfolk, Mass., home.
  
  Karnik’s competitor, Conrad Oberhaus, a teenager from Lincolnshire, Ill., failed to name Baotou in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, giving Karnik a slight edge. 
   
  “I knew I would win if I maintained that edge, even if Conrad answered all the other questions correctly,” said the Indian American Karnik, who was born in Mangalore and came to the U.S. at the age of two. “I kept thinking ‘all my hard work has paid off; my passion has brought me this,’ and I finished off on a good note,” he said.
   
  The winning question was: “Because Earth bulges at the Equator, the point that is farthest from Earth’s center is the summit of a peak in Ecuador. Name this peak.” The answer, which both boys got correctly, was Chimborazo.
   
  Karnik won the annual Bee by a single point, earning a $25,000 scholarship and a trip to the Galapagos Islands, which he has long dreamed of visiting. “The one place in the world that stands out to me is the Galapagos Islands. I would love to explore the pristine, natural ecosystem,” said the seventh-grader who attends King Philip Regional Middle School in Norfolk, in a video taped before the competition.
   
  Indian American teens and pre-teens took eight of the 10 winning spots in the finals of the annual Geography Bee, which is sponsored by the National Geographic Foundation and Google and hosted by Jeopardy! game show host Alex Trebek. This will be Trebek’s final year of moderating the championships; CNN correspondent Soledad O’Brien will take the reins next year. 
   
  The Bee is open to students in grades 4-8, who must first win state championships to enter the final competition. Nearly four million children across the country participated in this year’s competition.
   
  Karnik told India-West that his interest in geography began as a pre-schooler, when his mother Rathma would play “I-Spy” games with him and his older brother Karthik, challenging them to find a city, body of water, or other landmarks on an atlas. “That inspired us to learn more about that city or area, and its history,” the youngster stated.
   
  Karthik Karnik twice competed at the nationals, taking 6th place at last year’s Geography Bee, and 5th place in 2011. The 9th grader could not compete in this year’s competition, as he has aged out.
   
  This was Sathwik’s first year at the nationals; he credited his brother with helping him win, noting that Karthik knew the ins-and-outs of the competition, such as what types of questions would be asked. 
   
  On his pre-competition video, Sathwik Karnik, a budding neurologist, jokingly claimed he used a flash-drive to transfer information from a globe, atlas and laptop to his head, by putting the little device near his ear, and then simply waiting.
  Sathwik’s father, Vishwanath Karnik, told India-West that both his boys have traveled to India, and learned the culture of their own country, which has sparked their interest in learning about other cultures. He credits the North South Foundation – a non-profit organization that provides needy children in India with scholarships and holds educational contests in the U.S. – with preparing his sons to attend the finals of the Geography Bee.
   
  Other Indian Americans in the national finals included Sanjeev “Ricky” Uppalari, from Roswell, Atlanta, who took third place; and Akhil Rekhulapalli, from Ashburn, Virginia, who took fourth place. Pranit Nanda of Colorado; Neha Middela of Michigan; Neelam Sandhu of New Hampshire; Harish Palani of Oregon; and Asha Jain of Wisconsin were the other Indian Americans amongst the finalists.
   
  All kids at the finals taped a video, taking viewers on a tour around their state, and answering questions, including a favorite geography “fun fact,” the world leader each most admired, and the country each competitor most wished to visit.
  Uppalari, 11, was the youngest “Top Ten” finalist at this year’s competition. In his videotape, Uppalari highlighted CNN’s Atlanta headquarters, and said he most admired Mahatma Gandhi “who worked for independence using non-violence.”
  Given the opportunity to be a world leader for a day, the pre-teen stated, “I would first reduce poverty and famine, and then provide free medical care for all.” His favorite fun geography fact is that New York City is on the same longitude as Santiago, Chile. 
   
  In the manner of winner Karnik, Rekhulapalli comically stated that he gathers information from his laptop, globe and atlas on a straw which he sticks in his ear, and then just waits. Rekhulapalli said he would most like to be Charles Lindbergh for a day, flying solo around the U.S. 
   
  The 12-year-old’s favorite fun geography fact is that Brazilian cities Rio de Janeiro and San Paulo are reportedly “growing towards each other and will soon become one large megalopolis.”
   

Read more at http://www.indiawest.com/news/11245-sathwik-karnik-wins-national-geographic-bee.html#uDE69qd6y63hSA0J.99