“The winner of the 2010 National Geographic Bee is Aadith Moorthy!”, Mr. Alex Trebek announced these words at 11:05 AM on May 26th 2010. I just entered the lime light. I shall never forget that moment. My life had changed forever. Now I was a champion and would always be looked up to as a champion. But, Champions are never born Champions. The same applied to me. It was the strenuous work of 2 years that made me the National Champion of 2010 National Geographic Bee.
It was April 3rd, 2009. The 2009 Florida State Geographic bee was being held in Jacksonville, Florida (You better know where that is if you are competing in the bee!). It was at the Jacksonville University. After lunch, the preliminaries were held in separate rooms. I was really overconfident and I underestimated the questions. I thought they would be easy and I would easily become the state champion. I was really wrong!
It was the 3rd question in the prelims that slapped me hard on the face. It is actually a very easy question. “Fort Sumter, which protects the city of Charleston, is in what state - North Carolina or South Carolina?” Most of you would probably know the answer. It is South Carolina. But as I was extremely overconfident of myself, accidentally said North Carolina! Then I bit my tongue!
I thought it was all over when I missed that. I was really stressed and tensed. I almost started to cry. Then the second bullet was fired at me. It was the very next question. This is also an easy one, and I would have got it right if I had been thinking at that moment. I was still engrossed in the last miss. “What physical feature is most likely found near a volcano - A geyser or a lagoon? The correct answer is a geyser. Volcanic activity below an aquifer heats up water in the aquifer. When water vapor rises it pressurizes the area. It then reaches the surface through a fracture. In all tension, I answered “lagoon”. I broke into tears. It was really all over for me that year. Though I got the rest of the questions right, it was over.
After about half an hour or so, we headed over to the University auditorium to watch the finals. The past year’s champion, Siva Kangeyan was among the top 10. I was unfortunately just a spectator. I was so sad that I knew the answers to almost all the questions that were asked during the finals, but in vain. Siva, became the state champion for the second year in a row.
I exited the auditorium and sat on a nearby bench and started to cry. That was when my future coach, Mr. Kumar Nandur, walked up to me and asked me why I was crying? I told him that I had worked so hard and yet lost the bee. He consoled me – after all I had one more year left. Mr Kumar told me that he would make me a champion if I listened and followed his advices. I immediately became his student.
It was a long journey home that day. My parents consoled me by telling me that I could definitely do it next year. After we reached home, I began preparing for the next year’s bee immediately.
A few weeks passed and the National bee was going on in Washington DC. I came back from school and switched on the TV to the NatGeo Channel. The ten finalists were in the stage. Siva was one among them. The atmosphere was tense and everyone looked anxious. Alex Trebek came on to the stage and announced” Welcome to the 21st annual National geographic bee” and the competition was on. As it progressed, I found that I did not know most of the answers. This made me more determined that I have to study hard and win it next time!
The championship round was between Arjun Kandaswamy and Eric Yang. They were tied after the 5 questions. On to the tie-breakers. These were really hard, but they were still tied. The final winning question was “In what country do you find a district called Timisora, named after the Timis river a tributary of Danube that passes through it?”. The correct answer is Romania. Like the second place winner, I to guessed Hungary. “So, the winner of the 2009 National Geographic Bee is Eric Yang”. Eric inspired me to work hard and win the bee next year.
The following weekend, there was a class at Rohit Ravi’s house. Rohit was the second place winner at the state. I met many other kids who were also preparing for the bee. Mr.Kumar arrived at his house around 10 AM and the class began.
We took a tour of the world using a huge wall map. Mr. Kumar’s method is called “connecting the dots”. We learnt many new things from our coach. Later we had a mock bee. The group was split into juniors and seniors. The questions rolled on. What is the only island that is situated in two continents? New Guinea. What is the lake that is south of the Great Salt Lake? Utah Lake. These were just a few of the questions we faced. In the end, we had a lot of fun and learnt a number of new things. Mr.Kumar also gave me a list of books to buy. One of the books I had to buy was “Geographic Literacy”. It would prove to be the most useful one in the future!
I started a new study program. I would look at my DK Student Atlas and note down all the facts that I did not know in a notebook.
Summer finally arrived. Mr. Kumar gave his students a list of things to learn over the summer. I had to learn 100 new geographic terms, 50 new peninsulas, 25 new Archipelagos, and 3 facts about each country in the world.
My annual trip to India soon came. By this time, I was done discovering new facts from my atlas on North and South America. I took all my geography ‘equipment’ to India to continue my studies. I also completed Mr. Kumar’s summer assignment list. My summer studying had a great impact on me during the actual competitions. I had the head start.
After the summer, the school started. I made a schedule of what I should do after school each day. I made sure that there was at least half hour allocated for Geography each day. By this time, I had finished noting down the facts that I did not know from my DK atlas. I began reviewing my materials, awaiting the class bee.
The class bee was very easy. It was the same questions as last year’s. All were about the various continents. I aced it. One down, four more to go…
Studies continued with at least 30 minutes during week days and more during weekends. I was also preparing for the AMC math and as I did not do Algebra1 in school, I had to take online classes from Florida Virtual School. This would take an hour every day! By November, I had finished the AMC8 test. So, I had 30 minutes more for Geography. But the FLVS was still around! I had to finish a year’s portions in 20 weeks. Some target!
The winter break arrived soon. I spent most of my time preparing for the school bee. I visited Mr. Kumar’s house in Fort Myers. He gave me some books and a few maps to look at. I re-read the book – “Geography Literacy” in 3 days flat living up to the challenge posed by him. My school bee was on the 2nd day after school reopened – 5th of Jan 2010. I was planning to go to India with the ‘Sustaining Sampradaya’ group to perform at the Mecca of Carnatic music- The Music Academy in Chennai and in Thiruvaiyaru at the Aradhana, but my father opted out and that would prove to be the best decision made. The school bee was on the same day as the Aradhana. Wow, what a close one! If I would have missed the school bee, I won’t be writing this at all!
There was lot of pressure on me, during the school bee, as I was the last year’s winner and had to defend my title. Every one expected me to win.
The first few rounds of the school bee were extremely easy. On which continent, do you find the Nile river? Obviously very easy! But the questions became harder as the bee progressed. Queshm Island, in the Persian gulf belongs to which country, Jordan or Iran? You would obviously answer Iran if you know your maps! Then there was this really hard round on American Historical geography. But I survived and made through the competition with a perfect score. One of my teachers said, “I don’t even know why others compete - Aadith always win!” and one of my friends coined the phrase – “Aadith wins by default!” I won a levitating globe, and a National Geographic Concise atlas of the world.
I took the state qualification test the very next day. I thought it was very easy. There was a map on the Hydrologic cycle. I would get the news of whether I made it to the state finals a month later.
I called Mr. Kumar the following day. He asked me to prepare as if the state bee was just a week away and asked me to make 20 facts a day. These 20 facts a day would really prove to be the winning formula!
A month and half passed and the news finally came to the school. I had qualified for the state competition in Jacksonville University – to be held on April 9th, 2010.
Luckily, I had a week long spring break just before the competition! Another session was held at Rohit’s house and there was a mock bee which I won. This gave me the confidence that I am amassing the knowledge. Rohit was last year’s state runner up and to beat him was great to boost my confidence. I spent each available minute during the spring break to review the 20 facts collected over the last several weeks and looking at my atlases and other study material in detail.
The state bee arrived before I knew it. On the afternoon of April 8th, 2010, my parents and I set out for Jacksonville. We arrived about 9 PM and stayed at a hotel for the night.
On 9th, we arrived at the Jacksonville University. I was back where I was a year ago! This was the day to prove myself and move on. After lunch, the preliminaries were held in separate rooms.
This year’s prelims had rounds as varied as ‘houses of America’ to current events. But I pulled through in the end by answering 6 out of 7 correctly. Unfortunately, I missed the last question on Current Events – Which small country in the Persian Gulf recently signed a deal with foreign companies to produce nuclear energy? I overlooked the word ‘small’ and shot “Iraq”. The correct answer was Kuwait. But that didn’t matter in the end.
As there were only 4 perfect scores, and 6 slots were open, I had to go into a tie-breaker. Everyone answered the same question on a piece of paper. I got in with the very first question – “Iquitos, a city in the Amazon basin is in what country?” The answer that came from the participants ranged from Venezuela to Bolivia, but the correct answer was Peru. With that I made it to the top 10 on stage!
The finals with the top 10 were held in the University’s auditorium. Within half an hour everything was set and the competition began. Luckily, each one of us had a lifeline. If we missed two questions, we get eliminated. I used my lifeline very early on. “Waterton Lakes NP, forms an International Park with a park in the US. Name the state in which the park is located in the US”. The answer is Montana. The National Park was Glacier National Park. I accidentally mixed it up with the International Peace Garden in North Dakota (Peace Garden State). So I had to ensure that I answer the rest of the questions correct. And I managed to just do it. There was a round on lakes, maps and many other unpredictable things. Finally, we got to the championship round when only two of us remained. Last year’s state champion Siva Kangeyan, who finished 6th in the Nation, finished fourth.
I now had to fight head-on with my friend Rohit Ravi for the state championship. We both got all of the championship questions right. This meant that we get into a sudden death tie-breaker. In the tie breaker, both got the first question correct, and the second one wrong. This went on for three more questions. The audience was all tensed, more than us on the stage. It was truly a cliff hanger with the outcome in suspense! And finally the decisive question. “What is the largest city in the island of Hispaniola?” The answer is Santo Domingo. Unfortunately for Rohit, who answered Port-au-Prince, he had to settle for the 2nd place, second year in a row. With that I clinched the State Championship.
Upon winning, I also got a Crystal Globe and a NG Collegiate Atlas of the world. The later was really instrumental in me winning the Nationals. I called Mr. Kumar the next day. He had made me a new study plan for the Nationals. I started making 50 new facts a day.
I went to Coach Kumar’s house the very next weekend. He gave me a ton of books and maps. But one particular book that he gave me “Countries of the World” really made a huge difference. So, I started making 50 facts a day from my “Concise Atlas” and the “Countries of the World” for five of my short six weeks before the National Championship.
The last week was the most hectic one. It started the Saturday with Coach Kumar coming to my house to drop some more maps and review the information I already had. My Social Studies teacher, Ms.Anderson also came home and we strategized a plan for the Washington trip. It was really hard to cram all of the information in my brain, but with patience and persistence I succeeded! Ms. Anderson made some questions for my other teachers to ask me when I came to their classes. In this manner, I was always quizzed, at home and at school.
Time flew and before I knew it was the day of our flight to DC. It was Ms Anderson, my family and I on the flight to DC. As the fate would be, one of the flight attendants suffered a heart attack mid air and we had to make an emergency landing in Jacksonville. The paramedics were all ready and got him out safe. But the paperwork and the search for an alternate attendant took nearly two hours to complete and finally we were back on air to DC.
We arrived in DC late and rushed to the welcome ceremony, late and all the introductions were complete. I never got introduced! May be God had different ideas! After the ceremony, we had a quick dinner. I was with some of the other Contestants and got to meet them. Later we were taken on a trolley ride around the Capitol area. That was fun, joining the others from across the country and taken around the landmarks. But there were a few contestants who were going around with IPads and questioning all around and short of showing off! I don’t know what the next couple of days had in store for me!
The second day of the competition was a big day for me, may not be as big as the the day that followed. This was the day of the prelims. The prelims, I believe, were the hardest part of the whole competition. Obviously, they need to reduce the number of contestants from 54 to 10. I thought that I had gotten some of the hardest questions in all of the rounds. Fortunately, luck and knowledge were on my side.
The first question I got in the prelims was like a brick wall hitting me strait. “What famous explorer discovered Byzantine ship wrecks in the Black sea, Robert Ballard or some other person (whose name I cant remember as she was a NatGeo crew member!)?” The answer was Robert Ballard. It was a lucky guess, and I got it right. Who has ever heard of Robert Ballard or the other person? May be only the folks at National Geographic? I later found that they both were working for National Geographic. Always expect the unexpected!
There was a round on ‘currencies’. They did not tell you the name of a currency and ask the country it was from. Instead, they told you the name of an important location on the currency and asked you the country, eg. The White house on the US dollar. We were shown modified pictures of currencies. The currency I was shown had the northern terminus of the Hijar railroad, an important railroad for Muslim pilgrimage or Hajj is in what country that borders Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea. The answer is Syria. This was a relatively easy question if you know your maps.
There was a round on World festivals. The question I got was, “The Carnival at the city of Charleroi is an important festival in what country?” The answer is Belgium. I knew this because I had studied a city called Charleroi in my DK atlas!
I got 8 of the 9 questions correct in the prelims. There were just 4 people who got a perfect score and 8 had 8 right. Hence another tie-breaker!
In the tie breaker all of us answered the same question and we wrote the answers on a piece of paper. Every one of the eight answered the first question correctly. “What large island is south east of Greece?” The correct answer is Crete. It was the next question that got me into the top ten. “What is the name of the gulf that is located south-west of the Iberian Peninsula?” Only 5 of the 8 answered it correctly as the Gulf of Cadiz. With that I made it to the top 10.
After the prelims, all of us went on a picnic to the farm in Maryland. We had a great time there except for the pesky insects. But I was able to do some last minute brushing of facts that Coach had asked me – especially on the South Africa soccer world cup related locations and stadium.
The final day arrived. It was the last and final hurdle… The last wall to climb… The very last challenge... The national final of the National Geographic Bee 2010 was here.
We, the ten finalists were in the green room, backstage. 15 minutes to go on stage. Mr. Alex Trebek walked in and asked us what we would like him to say about each of us during the introductions like he always does in his other show, Jeopardy.
We were all seated on the stage at the national Geographic’s Grosvenor Auditorium. The final battle began. Alex Trebek gave a brief speech on why geography is important to the modern world. Then, we got down to business.
The first round had a choice of three cities and all of us got out own question. The three cities were Kiev(Ukraine), Kinshasa (Democratic republic of Congo), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). I believe that I got the hardest question that round. “Which of these cities has a population of over 7 million within its city limits?” I had no clue and answered Kuala Lumpur thinking that KL was the biggest of the three. I was wrong. I had no idea that Kinshasa was so populated. All of us has one lifeline and I just used up mine. Later I found that no one who had missed the first question has ever won the championship.
All of us answered the same question by writing on a pad for the second round. We were shown a short clip on the Illa de la Coco and were asked which country south of Nicaragua, did the island belong to? The correct answer is Costa Rica. All of us got it right.
The third round was an ecotourism round on places around the world promoting eco-tourism. My question was fairly easy. “Where are Yoyo and Courtney NPs west of Columbia river?” The answer is Canada. I knew all of the clues in that question and I could hit it on the target. Here three contestants got it wrong – James Stiff, Vansh Jain and Andy Braun got it wrong. I had company for people who had used their lifeline!
The fourth round was similar to the second round – written answers only. “Where is the Bananal Island, the river island?” The answer is Brazil. I knew that Bananal is in Brazil because it is an extremity fact. It is the largest river island in the world. Pranab Bandarkar and James Stiff got it wrong. Andy did not give any answer. So, with two misses, James and Andy were out.
The fifth round utilized Google Earth for the questions. We were each shown a river and told the names of two cities on it. We had to identify the river. My question was “Jinan and Kaifeng are on what river?” and the Google Earth image was panned over China. I answered it correctly as “Huang He”. I was not sure about the cities, but as I watched intently where the image was zoomed and panned, I could see the loess deposits and hence guessed “Huang He”. In this round Abinav Khurada of MA and Antony Chen of UT got it wrong. But both had just one miss and so no more damages.
The next question was an interesting one. One Mr.Bob came on stage with a long bamboo flute called the FuYara and played it. The question was “FuYara, used by shephards found on the mountain countryside near Koz-it-za in what European country?”
This was a tricky question. Kis-it-za is actually written as Kosice but pronounced differently. Luckily Pranav asked for the spelling and Alex gave it. I had read about Kosice, and I thought it was pronounced Ko-cise. Luckily I wrote it correctly as Slovakia. To this question Pranav answered it as Hungary. Antony Chen, in the melee, wrote Poland but orally said Hungary: What a tension! Vansh answered Slovenia. With two misses, Pranav, Antony and Vansh were out. That left 5 contestants on stage.
In the seventh round we were shown maps with intentional errors. Eg. Lake Okeechobee was moved closer to GA border. The question I received had the Panama Canal in the wrong place – not going through Lake Gatun. I got it right. In this round, Abhinav and Stefan Petrovich of Kansas got it wrong. Abhi with two misses was out. That left four on stage.
Next, a Kinkaju (a small rodent like animal) was brought on stage and we were asked “In which country we could find the Kinkaju in the cloud forests south of La Ceiba?”. I had studied La Ceiba from the DK atlas and had this as fact even before the state bee. Oliver Lucier of Rhode Island and I answered this correctly as Honduras. Where as Karthik Mouli of Idaho and Stefan answered this as Guatemala. With two misses Stefan was placed 4th in Nation.
Now three of us were left and we were all “running for the money” as Alex put it. The ninth round consisted of random questions to identify the top two. “Baden-Württemberg is a state famous for industries in what country?” I knew from the pronunciation that this was a Germanic state. I also knew that all the industries are around the Rhine. So I answered it as Germany, which was correct. Oliver got his question too, while Karthik got his wrong! So, Karthik finished third in country and won the $10,000 scholarship. With this I made it to the Championship round with Oliver.
The stage was rearranged and we both were going head on. The championship round has five question addressed to both and we had to write down the answers. Now, Gold was within my reach!
The first question – “Tswana, a Bantu language is spoken in what land locked country in Africa?” I thought for a moment and as per Alex, went for the obvious – Tswana is contained in Botswana, so I wrote down correctly as Botswana. Oliver went for Zambia. One point for Aadith.
The second question – “Yoruba Mate, a tea made from evergreen plants is common in the state of Misiones in what country that borders Paraguay?” I had read about Yoruba Mate in one of the National Geographic magazines and knew it was produced in Paraguay and Argentina. As Paraguay was already in the question, the obvious answer was Argentina. I also knew that Misiones is a state in Argentina and hence it was easy. Two points for Aadith.
Now the third question. If I get it right, then Oliver cannot beat me in regular championship rounds! But if I get this right and Oliver wrong, it would be over! “Oresund Bridge, opened in 2000 connects Copenhagen, Denmark with what Swedish city?” I knew this as I had read about this engineering marvel. Both Oliver and I got it right. The correct answer is Malmo. Aadith - 3 Oliver - 1. If I get the next one, and Oliver did not, I will be the winner!
“Cam Rahn bay, served as a naval base for Russia, US, French and Japan during World War II, is in what country?” I had no clue. I never heard of Cam Rahn Bay. When Alex read the question, I heard it as Cameron – after the new British PM James Cameron. So, I attempted to write ‘New Zealand’. Oliver wrote China. The correct answer was Vietnam. Yes, it did sound Vietnamese, but I did not analyze it at that time. The game was already over, as there was only one question left and I had 3 correct to one of Oliver’s. We went to the last question.
“The largest city in Northern Haiti changed its name after independence from France. What is the present day name of this city?” Haiti was in the news lately due to the earthquake and hence I had read about Haitian cities. Oliver put down “Port-au-prince” and Aadith “Cap-Haitien”. “The correct answer”, announced Alex “is Cap-Haitien”. I pumped my fist. “Congratulations Aadith. You are the 2010 National Geographic Bee Champion”. I immediately shook hands with Mr. Alex Trebek and Oliver Lucier. I just entered the limelight!
I was presented a check for US$25,000 by Mr. Grosvenor and then, it was picture time! All the state champions were called on to the stage. After that, I was engulfed by the press. I got interviewed by a lot of newspapers and news stations like, USA Today, ABC, etc. Some of my peers back at my school got interviewed too!
In between some interviews, I got to meet the “The Geographer” Mr. Lee Schwartz of the US Government! Finally after about half an hour, I was done with my first set of interviews! I immediately headed to a special room for lunch. I could not eat with all the other participants as I was now the champion! After a quick lunch, which I could not cherish as I was overwhelmed, I got a tour of the production van and met all the people behind the scene who helped put the show together.
Now, I could finally talk to my coach! He was mighty proud of the accomplishment! He also, jokingly, asked me to visit the island of Hispaniola and thank them as it was that island that helped me win the state and national bee!
Later I was interviewed by the National Geographic Radio and then I was on the road again. More interviews! I had a telephone interview the St. Pete Times and Tampa Tribune and to the Fox News station.
I had just the perfect amount of time to take a power nap back at my hotel and to get ready for the banquet, which I had to leave early to catch a train to the city – New York city! I had more interviews waiting for me there!
I could spend a few minutes with the other contestants at the banquet. I had to sign a number of autographs! A few 6th and 7th graders asked me to coach them for the next year! I had to rush through the dinner and leave for the train station to catch a 6:30 PM Metro Liner to New York. Unfortunately Ms.Anderson could not come and only my parents came with me to New York. We were also accompanied by Ms. Stephanie Montgomery, the National Geographic PR person to coordinate my appearances in New York.
The train reached New York around 10:30 PM. We took a cab to the fancy hotel – the Park Lane, across the Central park were we were put by CBS. Since I had to appear on the Early Show, I received star treatment. I got to go around in limousines!
My first National media appearance was on the CBS’ Early Show. The studio was within walking distance, just a block away from the hotel. In the show, I was asked the usual questions like – How did you prepare for the bee? What did you win? Etc. The next appearance was on the MSNBC Daily Roundup. On the way we grabbed a quick bagel at Starbucks. That was my breakfast! Running around from studio to studio was hectic and sort of tiring – though I was going around in Limousines! I could imagine how hectic the life of the president would be! The MSNBC interview was pretty much the same except the anchor was in DC and I in NY. I did the interview, live, with the help of the teleprompter and remote camera!
My third appearance was with Kids TV. This one was not live though. It would be played later across the country!
My fourth tv appearance was with CNN on the Ali Velshi show. Here again, Mr. Velshi was miles away in Atlanta and I was at the mercy of remote cameras and the teleprompter. Everything went well until Mr Velshi stumped me with a geography question on live TV! “From what US city you can reach the same state when you travel 100 miles in any of the four directions and it is not the state of that city?” He said the answer was Stamford, Connecticut. The question itself is pretty confusing. I had no idea what the answer was. But, I could escape making a statement “Well You stumped me. Life is a learning experience”. I later found that many viewers had criticized him for stumping me and he even apologized online! Thank You Mr. Velshi.
My last interview for that day was with 'India Abroad' newspaper. After this my journey back home was another experience with delayed flight finally reaching Tampa past mid-night! I was recognized in the airport by a few passengers and that was fun! They even announced on the flight!
The following day, I had to go to the local Fox Station for a live interview in the morning! I was asked some simple geography questions for which I knew all the answers! That was well received by the Tampa bay TV audience!
My parents drove me to school a few minutes late, intentionally! The whole school, the local media, county representatives were all waiting on the road, rallying at the gate, shouting my name, holding posters with my picture! Just Imagine that….
It is only the beginning…..
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