Final Moments:
“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
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 South Carolina North Carolina
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
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
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 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?
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
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 week ends. I was also preparing for the AMC math and as I did not do Algebra 1 in school, I had to take online classes from
The winter break arrived soon. I spent most of my time preparing for the school bee. I visited Mr. Kumar’s house in
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
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
Luckily, I had a week long spring break just before the completion! 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
On 9th, we arrived at the
This year’s prelims had rounds as varied as ‘houses of
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 – “
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
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
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, Mrs. Anderson was also home and we strategized a plan for the Washington 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
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. “What famous explorer discovered Byzantine ship wrecks in the
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
There was a round on World festivals. The question I got was, “The Carnival at the city of
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
After the prelims, all of us went on a picnic to a farm in
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
All of us answered the same question by writing on a pad for the second round. We were shown a short clip on the Isla de la Coco and were asked which country south of
The third round was an ecotourism round on places around the world promoting eco-tourism. My question was fairly easy. “Where are Yoho and Koutenay NPs west of
The fourth round was similar to the second round – written answers only. “Where is the
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 “
The next question was an interesting one. A person came on stage with a long bamboo flute called the Fujara and played it. The question was “Fujara, used by shephards found on the mountain countryside near Koz-it-za in what European country?”
This was a tricky question. Koz-it-za is actually written as
In the seventh round we were shown maps with intentional errors. Eg.
Next, a Kinkaju (a small rodent-like animal) was brought on stage and we were asked “In which country could we find the Kinkaju in the cloud forests south of La Ceiba?”. I had studied La Ceiba from the DK atlas and had this in my head even before the state bee. Oliver Lucier of RI and I answered this correctly as
Now three of us were left and we were all “running for the money” as Trebek 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 had studied the states of Germany. Additionally, I knew from the pronunciation that this was a Germanic state. I also knew that all the industries in Germany are concentrated around the
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, the Gold was within my reach!
The first question: “Tswana, a Bantu language, is spoken in what land locked country in
The second question – “Yerba Mate, a tea made from evergreen plants is common in the state of Misiones in what country that borders
Now the third question. If I got it right, then Oliver could not beat me in the regular championship rounds! But if I got this right and Oliver wrong, it would be over! “
“Cam Rahn bay, which served as a naval base for
“The largest city in Northern Haiti changed its name after independence from
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 Mr. Lee Schwartz, the "Geographer” 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
The train reached
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
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
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
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…..
I am very happy to announce that I have won the Florida Geography Bee. I am extremely grateful to my coach,Mr.Kumar Nandur. This would not have been possible without him.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/palm-harbor-student-wins-state-geography-bee/1086568
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TV Appearances after the 2010 Nat Geo Championship.
From EarlyShow
On NBC Nightly News -
On MSNBC’s The Daily Run Down with Todd Guthrie
From Fox 13 Tampa
Local ABC station interviewing my classmates and principal
Welcoming at school
From Local News
And ... CNN's Ali Velshi stumped me!
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