Bonny Jain, of Moline Illinois, won the 2006 National Geographic Spelling Bee. He’s twelve years old, and he’s also a spelling champ and a violin player when he’s not naming mountain ranges in Wales.
He beat — no surprise — two other Indian American kids to take home the prize:
Neera Sirdeshmukh, 14, of Nashua, New Hampshire, came in second place, while 13-year-old Yeshwanth Kandimalla from Georgia came third.
For the winning question, his 26th out of 27, Jain correctly answered ‘Cambrian Mountains’ to the question ‘Name the mountains that extend across much of Wales, from the Irish Sea to the Bristol Channel.’
Jain, who is still in eighth grade, won $25,000 and a lifetime membership to the National Geographic Society for his efforts. (link)
That’s right, the three top contestants in the top U.S. Geography Bee are all Indian Americans. (Incidentally, Jain came in in the top 10 last year, and was mentioned by Sepia Mutiny here)
Think you can run with the geography whizzes? Try this quiz — written by Jain himself — at the Chicago Tribune. (Remember, no cheating! I got 7/10)
Oh no, not another of those super geek kids whose only life to beat everybody. When would desis get a life?
My Score: 6/10
That quiz was relatively simple – the only one I had trouble with was the plateau in Missouri and Arkansas, but I just used the process of elimination. Not bad for a Canadian.
8/10, but blind luck. That’s much cooler than a spelling bee—geography is a wonderful subject, and one I sincerely wish I had studied much, much more of in school. Not like spelling at all.
My score : 9/10 🙂 …not bad, considering that I was mainly taught Indian geography in my school days. Indian education system rocks !
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12956536/
Its funny that his only wrong answer was an Indian island!
8 out of 10, baby. Yeah! Cheer me as I duke it out for the senior geography bee!
6/10 but I’m pretty sure I can take him in a fight.
8/10 – but first Q was lucky guess after eliminating 2 possibilities 🙂
Uh oh. I got a 3/10. Does this mean I’m a dumb desi?
Chanakya, I hope he never reads this thread. “When would desis get a life?” Um, okay. I’m proud of him. Anyone who is that passionate about something HAS a life. Frankly, I think being interested in geography is kind of hot. Besides, geek is chic.
10/10 btw. What?
Hey Bhagwan! These desis are crazy, I tell you! 🙂
Besides, geek is chic.
Why doesn’t anyone say that when I’m around??
I can’t imagine reading through a dictionary for fun; in contrast, what’s horrible about getting lost in curiousity about the world? Besides, there’s no red squiggly line for geographic ignorance. There’s nothing I resent about this kid except that his lifetime subscription to NGM is free.
@voracin, #9,
bad bad desi. “blot on the landscape”. just like me :). i got just 5/10, still considered failing grade btw.
happy that i’m a 6/10… damn i’ve improved from the high school academic decathlon days…. i know where myrtle beach is :)..and now he’s off to compete in the spelling be… damn… can you imagine if he wins that? he will become SUPER GEEK…now if he also competes and wins the intel science talent search….then.. he will be come ultimate BROWN GEEK that every brown kid’s parents will compare their child to…’if bonny can do it, why can’t you beta?…turn off the xbox 360 now! go and read some wiki online’…. :)..now if only we could change his name…not a fan of bonny..doesn’t sound like a superstar to me… all in good fun..
Do you know that playing games like Playstation and XBox improves the dexterity of fingers that in the future they will make great surgeons. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/2946422.stm heh heh heh
Why are American Indians such nerds? Why can’t you produce some cool people?
They’re too busy writing your performance appraisals and trying to decide who to fire.
Maybe if they add the suffix ‘Bee’ to world sporting events…
6/10.
“It’s a fine line between clever and stupid.” -Spinal Tap.
These kids have some crazy parents. Without the help/support of parents, these kids would rather be out playing than memorizing all the lakes in the World.
Its like your weird cousin in Bombay who has memorized all the contents on the back of soda cans or the crazy Uncle in Rampur who has memorized half the dictionary.
AMFD they have crazy parents. obviously. who the hell would want to read encylopedias and fact books all day… well maybe some psychos… the parents who take the cake are in the movie spellbound as stated several times before… now that brown boys dad was clearly mental. clearly.
Excellent! Hard work works. It is not cool to flunk out; just silly. I have done a lot of quizzing in my time. It is a good way to get started on more serious reading. When is someone going to write about the quiz capital of the world? Calcutta?
I got 5/10. But I dont know the US specific questions as I never really studied that.
But this is a “Bee” that I can get behind, as opposed to the “spelling Bee” which I absolutely hate.
Ok, here’s the reason why I hate “spelling Bee” and feel they are irrelevant waste of time. New words keep getting created. Popular culture can add new words to the dictionary. Happens all the time. Well, popular culture cant add a new continent or a river.
There was an Indian kid who won a previous Geography Bee (I think it was in 1993) that went to my high school. We hated that guy. He was such a freak. Absolutely no social skills whatsoever. Our Saturday night recreation used to be TPing his house. The kid did nothing but study all the time, just like every single geek stereotype you could name. Didn’t do him any good either, as he ended up at the local state university like the rest of us normal kids- and everyone hated him there, too.
CL
I’m not sure what you all are talking about, this kid has the fucken goods. I think he’s also in the spelling bee championships. Give the kid his credit…fucken haters. Seems like a good kid to me and if he enjoys being a nerd more power to him. My advice to the kid, “you do Bonny Jain and let the haters hate.”
I was reading the the WaPo the day before about the local kids who made it to the finals and was disappointed out that there were no desi kids reprezent’n from the DC region. How is that for stereotyping?
The winner is going on to the spelling bee as well…won’t it be a hoot if he wins both?
Ob.Score: 9/10
El Paso???? Weak. I know.
Yeah – the parents probably have a role to play. Rent the entertaining “Spellbound” to get a behind the scenes look. As for the quiz, I got 9/10. It might have been harder if the quiz was designed by the adults administering the quiz, as opposed to Jain himself.
“Geek is chic” – the lie that will never die.
He was also on the NBC’s Today Show this morning. Katie Couric and Mark Lauer tried to test his skills by going aganist him in a tournament style face off..(the hosts knows alllll the answers before the show)
If your name consists of 85 letters then you better be able to spell. Its like if your 7 ft tall, you should be able to dunk.
Not impressed at all
May be you misread the post. This wasnt about “spelling”
From the National Geog, site the other finalists…
The other finalists in the top ten are Suneil K. Iyer, 11, of Olathe, Kansas; Krishnan V. Chandra, 13, of Andover, Massachusetts; Drew A. Coffin, 14, of Coralville, Iowa; Matthew J. Vengalil, 13, of Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan; Kelsey K. Schilperoort, 12, of Prescott, Arizona; Paige E. dePolo, 12, of Reno, Nevada; and Autumn R. Hughes, 12, of Wheat Ridge, Colorado.
This must be an off year. Only 6 out of 10? Shame on us!
yes! I am the champ 8/10 for me!
(missed the ones on Myrtle beach and lowest precipitation)
No wonder you think geek is chic !
oops, I see a couple of 9/10 and anna with 10/10
man, these desi’s are tough competition 🙁
ha. priceless!
Take it up with our newest guest blogger, Neeraja. She’ll set your ass straight. Or gay, if you’re girl-crushing. 😉
The kid should audition for the “Revenge of The Nerds” remake that’s due out next year…
Is there really a need to insult this kid? “Revenge of the Nerds” remake? Wtf?
Chickpea, you think that he and others like him are “psycho”? Really? That’s precious. As if you got in to the string of Ivy-league schools you like to rattle off by NOT engaging in similar. Get over yourselves, I find it difficult to believe that all of you were prom queens and captains of the football team.
but ALL the Tri-Lambdas knew where the g-spot was. i don’t know if our little MapQuester is as adept.
christ, just thinking about Julia Montgomery during the Moon Walk scene makes my junk tingle.
Communis Rixatrix:
do you really believe this kid did/studied this out of his own volition? likely not… there are some brilliant kids out there.. not making fun of him specifically, but i’ve seen some psychotic parents push their kids to utter despair.. and it’s sad..
Ain’t no shame in my game, though I will admit that my score surprised me. I’ve never even studied the subject and consider myself rather ignorant when it comes to remembering which river is here or which -stan goes there.
I don’t get all the mild hostility to geography buffs…I think the way most Americans score on the subject is pathetic. Someone at lunch was saying something like half of all young people in this country can’t find India on a map of Asia. Awesome. It’s only a massive, kite-shaped thing which points in to the ocean. Then again, a third of us can’t find LOUISIANA on a map. I’d like to think our readers could ease through a quiz created by a kid. Go geography-fans. Go Bonny.
Ouch. The biggest insult to this geeky kid so far is that a North Dakota newspaper thinks he is a girl. http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2006/05/25/news/state/115186.txt Headline: Illinois girl wins Geographic Bee
Anybody in the ND bunker ready to go set them straight? (Sorry, I won’t be in the state until next month.)
Take it up with our newest guest blogger, Neeraja. She’ll set your ass straight. Or gay, if you’re girl-crushing. 😉
Although I met some of Neeraja’s criteria (Voltron – yes, video games – no), bear in mind there are those who are geeky in private, among a select and understanding peer group. And then there are the unfortunate geeks, who try as they might, simply cannot escape their geekiness. No amount of fashionable clothing, contact lenses, and cardio-training will counteract the awkwardness that arises when the subject of dilithium crystals comes up.
In “Roger Dodger”, there’s a scene where Campbell Scott effectively shreds the argument put forth by two women on how important a sense of humor is, “If 2 buff, well-toned, play by their own rules bikers guys came in here right now, and beat the s*** out of us 2 funny guys, you would be weak in the knees.”
As for Americans’ lack of geographic skills, there’s always The Simpsons:
Marge: “It took the children 40 minutes to locate Canada on the map.”
Homer: “Marge, anyone could miss Canada. All tucked away down there.”
7/10. am happy to be as good as amardeep :-).
8/10. Dash it! Same mistake about Antarctica that I made 30 years ago. And those questions from the Eastern hemisphere are kachori and laddoo.
7/10 for me, too. I’ll attribute my missing three points to the fact that I was also my high school’s prom king (no joke) and that I have never been able to look at the state of Texas without a great deal of pity (so have not a clue about the placement of its cities).
I’ll attribute the few comments of hate in the posts above to outright jealousy. Yes, I bet Bonny Jain will be a cool kid in college. He would have fit right in at my college, where outgeeking each other was a favorite game.
All hail the future!
don’t mind me. I was probably bitter because I could only manage a 7.
Thank god my Mom does not get the report card. I don’t wnat to study geography all over again.
after pumping your comment through the DesiNormalizatron 2000 we have further penalized you by three additional points, reducing your total score to 4/10 because the most popular boy at the Bronx School of Science does not give you “prom king” status.
our sincerest apologies.
AC,
it was a suburban, 96% white high school known for its bigotry. I suspect that my 15-minutes of social elevation was the Divine Balance exerting itself and then laughing.
Change that, pointing and then laughing.