Post by title1parent on Apr 9, 2009 6:23:35 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/1517726,Naperville-boy-tops-state-geography-bee-na040809.article
Naperville boy is tops in state in geography
April 8, 2009
By TIM WALDORF twaldorf@scn1.com
Name the South Pacific country whose capital territory includes Jervis Bay.
The answer: Australia.
Siva Gangavarapu, a seventh-grader at Hill Middle School, knew the answer, and that trivial bit of knowledge won him the National Geographic state-level geography bee, held Friday at the Field Museum in Chicago.
Siva bested 98 other competitors by correctly answering more than 30 geography questions, and will now head to National Geographic's national competition, which will be held May 19 and 20 in Washington, D.C. Should he win that competition, he'll receive $25,000 in scholarships and an all-expenses paid trip to the Galapagos Islands with the competition's moderator, Jeopardy host Alex Trebek.
Siva's victory at the state competition was no stroke of good luck. He'd been preparing for this state bee since he finished 16th in last year's.
"(He studies) every day, two hours at least, and, on the weekends, four or five hours — maybe seven or eight," said his father Raj. "It varies. Last week, during spring break, he was pretty much hitting a minimum of eight hours a day."
What does he do during these long stretches of research?
"For one year, I've been making a huge study guide of all of the countries," Siva said. "I go to the library and check out a book about a country, and write down all kinds of information, then read the study guide over and over, trying to memorize it all.
"I also have a big atlas," he added. "So an important thing is to memorize the maps in it because most of the questions ask which country is north of this or that. So, if you know the maps, you can kind of guess at that."
Siva's commitment has more than impressed Ann O'Neil, a teacher in Hill's gifted program.
"What's really exciting as a teacher is to see somebody who is just so interested in learning just to learn, just to know things and be excited about a content area," she said. "You don't see that. So often these days, everybody is concerned about the A, and he just wants to learn for more information. It is great, and it is contagious in the classroom."
But why geography? What about that subject of study does Siva find so interesting that he's willing to spend hours a day every day studying it?
"It is just interesting," Siva said. "You live in this world, and you kinda need to know about it. That's what drives me to keep studying and learning new things like this."
Naperville boy is tops in state in geography
April 8, 2009
By TIM WALDORF twaldorf@scn1.com
Name the South Pacific country whose capital territory includes Jervis Bay.
The answer: Australia.
Siva Gangavarapu, a seventh-grader at Hill Middle School, knew the answer, and that trivial bit of knowledge won him the National Geographic state-level geography bee, held Friday at the Field Museum in Chicago.
Siva bested 98 other competitors by correctly answering more than 30 geography questions, and will now head to National Geographic's national competition, which will be held May 19 and 20 in Washington, D.C. Should he win that competition, he'll receive $25,000 in scholarships and an all-expenses paid trip to the Galapagos Islands with the competition's moderator, Jeopardy host Alex Trebek.
Siva's victory at the state competition was no stroke of good luck. He'd been preparing for this state bee since he finished 16th in last year's.
"(He studies) every day, two hours at least, and, on the weekends, four or five hours — maybe seven or eight," said his father Raj. "It varies. Last week, during spring break, he was pretty much hitting a minimum of eight hours a day."
What does he do during these long stretches of research?
"For one year, I've been making a huge study guide of all of the countries," Siva said. "I go to the library and check out a book about a country, and write down all kinds of information, then read the study guide over and over, trying to memorize it all.
"I also have a big atlas," he added. "So an important thing is to memorize the maps in it because most of the questions ask which country is north of this or that. So, if you know the maps, you can kind of guess at that."
Siva's commitment has more than impressed Ann O'Neil, a teacher in Hill's gifted program.
"What's really exciting as a teacher is to see somebody who is just so interested in learning just to learn, just to know things and be excited about a content area," she said. "You don't see that. So often these days, everybody is concerned about the A, and he just wants to learn for more information. It is great, and it is contagious in the classroom."
But why geography? What about that subject of study does Siva find so interesting that he's willing to spend hours a day every day studying it?
"It is just interesting," Siva said. "You live in this world, and you kinda need to know about it. That's what drives me to keep studying and learning new things like this."