Ellicott City youngster has strong showing at National Geographic Bee

Out of 2.5 million students from across the country who competed in the 28th National Geographic Bee, Rishi Kumar was one of the last students standing.

Rishi, a fifth-grader at Worthington Elementary School in Ellicott City, tied for fourth place with Grace Rembert of Montana at the end of the hour-long finals round Wednesday at National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington.

At 10 years old, he was the youngest of the 10 students to advance to the finals of the annual geography competition for students in grades 4 to 8. The top 10 were winnowed down from a field of 54 champions representing the 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. Atlantic and Pacific territories and Department of Defense Dependents Schools.

Though he didn't win, Rishi said he's already looking forward to seeing how far he can go next year.

"I have been interested in geography since I was 3, when I was fascinated by globes my parents had," he said. "They would show me locations on the globe, such as my grandparents' home in India."

The grand prize winner was Rishi Nair, a 12-year-old sixth-grader from Florida who knew that the Galapagos islands is the archipelago in the Pacific Ocean where a new marine sanctuary will protect sharks and other wildlife around Isla Wolf. The sanctuary's creation was only recently announced in March.

The top three finishers were awarded $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 scholarships, respectively, and the other seven finalists, including Rishi, received $500 scholarships.

One of the most difficult questions in Rishi's mind was naming the location of the source of the Llano River. He said afterward that he knew it was in the Southwestern part of the U.S. and had answered "Colorado." A tributary of the Colorado River, the Llano runs through the Edwards Plateau in Texas.

Senthil Parameswaran, an information technology director, and Paranika Natarajan, a software engineer, helped coach their son, who was named runner-up in last year's state-level contest.

Rishi said his mother gave him a study schedule with lists of topics to cover, which he embarked on last fall. He studied an hour on weekdays and two hours on Saturdays and Sundays. After winning the statewide contest he doubled up on his study time.

"I also looked at atlases and watched the news," he said.

After it was reported that EgyptAir Flight 804 had crashed May 19 in route from Paris to Cairo, Rishi began mapping out the jet's path, Parameswaran said, adding he liked to see his son "put the news in a geographical context, as sad as that event was."

Aside from immersing himself in geography for eight months, Rishi maintained good grades at Worthington, where his favorite subjects are math, science, social studies and P.E. He also found time to take horseback-riding lessons and participate in Boy Scout activities.

Worthington's acting principal, Susan Webster, traveled to the finals on Wednesday, and physical education teacher Vincent Duffy attended the preliminary rounds on Monday.

"Rishi got great support from the school, and we are very appreciative of that," Parameswaran said, noting that students were updated on Rishi's progress during the school's morning announcements.

Webster said her decision to attend the final round was "a no-brainer."

"We were sitting on the edge of our seats to see if Rishi would make it through," she said after watching him take part in two tie-breaks. "He clearly loves geography and he has the support of his class, which has already made a poster to congratulate him."

In honor of the U.S. National Park Service's centennial this year, contestants were asked to make a short video explaining what place in each of their states they would like to see declared a national park, Natarajan said.

Rishi said he selected the Chesapeake Bay for its environmental, recreational and historical assets.

Natarajan said she was glad that such challenges were injected into the competition to downplay rote memorization of facts.

Aside from thanking his parents for their help, Rishi he wanted to acknowledge the support of his 6-year-old brother, Jeeva.

"Jeeva wants to do everything Rishi does," Parameswaran said. "He's his hero."

Though the students capturing the first three places won major prizes, the downside is they won't be allowed to participate in the competition next year, Rishi said.

"Coming in fourth made him all the more determined to return," his father said.