18th National Geographic Bee

2006 American academic competition

18th National Geographic Bee

Date| May 24, 2006
Location| Washington, D.C.
Winner| Bonny Jain
Age| 12
Residence| Moline, Illinois
No. of contestants| 55
Preceded by| 17th National Geographic Bee
Followed by| 19th National Geographic Bee

The 18th National Geographic Bee was held in Washington, D.C., on May 24, 2006, sponsored by the National Geographic Society. The final competition was moderated by Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek.[1] The winner was Bonny Jain of Moline, Illinois, who won a $25,000 college scholarship and lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society. The 2nd-place winner, Neeraj Sirdeshmukh of Nashua, New Hampshire, won a $15,000 scholarship. The 3rd-place winner, Yeshwanth Kandimalla of Marietta, Georgia, won a $10,000 scholarship.[2]

## 2006 State Champions

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State | Winner's Name | Grade | School | City/Town | Notes

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Alabama | Lowell Van Ness | 8th | Bumpus Middle School | Hoover
Alaska | Andrew Lee | 7th | Interior Distance Education of Alaska | Anchorage
Arizona | Kelsey Schilperoort | 8th | Heritage Christian Home Educators | Prescott | Top 10 finalist
Arkansas | Devin Matthews | 6th | Lake Area Homeschool Association | Drasco
California | Ryland Lu | 8th | Pressman Academy | Los Angeles
Colorado | Autumn Hughes | 6th | Homeschooled | Wheat Ridge | Top 10 finalist
Connecticut | Liam McCarthy | 8th | Middlesex Middle School | Darien
Delaware | Matthew Heitmann | 8th | Gunning Bedford Middle School | New Castle
Department of Defense | Husain Mogri | 8th | Bahrain School | Bahrain
District of Columbia | Benjamin Geyer | 6th | British School of Washington | Washington, D.C.
Florida | John Kim | 7th | Oslo Middle School | Vero Beach
Georgia | Yeshwanth Kandimalla | 8th | Simpson Middle School | Marietta | Third place
Hawaii | Guthrie Angeles | 6th | Kaleiopuu Elementary School | Waipahu
Idaho | Ryan Bovard | 7th | Jennifer Junior High School | Lewiston
Illinois | Bonny Jain | 8th | Woodrow Wilson Middle School | Moline | 2006 champion
Indiana | Jonathan Hielkema | 7th | Highland Christian School | Highland
Iowa | Drew Coffin | 8th | Northwest Junior High School | Coralville | Top 10 finalist
Kansas | Suneil Iyer | 6th | Havencroft Elementary School | Olathe | Top 10 finalist
Kentucky | Matt Hensley | 8th | Beaumont Middle School | Lexington
Louisiana | Lee Winkler | 5th | Kehoe-France School | Metairie
Maine | Alexander Homer | 8th | Ellsworth Middle School | Ellsworth
Maryland | James Plamondon | 8th | St. John Regional Catholic School | Frederick
Massachusetts | Krishnan Chandra | 8th | West Middle School | Andover | Top 10 finalist
Michigan | Matthew Vengalil | 8th | Parcells Middle School | Grosse Pointe Woods | Top 10 finalist
Minnesota | Simon Smedberg | 8th | Jefferson Community School | Minneapolis
Mississippi | Taide Ding | 5th | Central Elementary School | Oxford
Missouri | Christopher Winston | 7th | Crestview Middle School | Ellisville
Montana | Hannah Goodman | 7th | Helena Area Christian Home Educators | Helena
Nebraska | Preston Bradley | 8th | Lux Middle School | Lincoln
Nevada | Paige dePolo | 7th | Little Flower School | Reno | Top 10 finalist
New Hampshire | Neeraj Sirdeshmukh | 8th | Fairgrounds Middle School | Nashua | Second Place
New Jersey | Evan Meltzer | 8th | Central Middle School | Stirling
New Mexico | Luis Baca | 6th | Albuquerque Academy | Albuquerque
New York | Jonathan Katz | 8th | Scarsdale Middle School | Scarsdale
North Carolina | Michael Narup | 8th | Myrtle Grove Middle School | Wilmington
North Dakota | Conrad Eggers | 8th | Horizon Middle School | Bismarck
Ohio | Nirbhay Jain | 7th | Ottawa Hills Junior High School | Toledo
Oklahoma | Anthony Gonzalez | 8th | Centennial Middle School | Broken Arrow
Oregon | Michael Ling | 6th | Meadow Park Middle School | Beaverton
Pacific Territories | Ian Farley | 7th | South Pacific Academy | Pago Pago
Pennsylvania | Michael Luo | 8th | Eagle View Middle School | Mechanicsburg
Puerto Rico | Francisco Vargas | 7th | St. John's School | San Juan
Rhode Island | Laura Kulm | 8th | Archie Cole Middle School | East Greenwich
South Carolina | Andrew Brill | 8th | Anderson County Homeschoolers | Anderson
South Dakota | Joseph Knofczynski | 6th | Georgia Morse Middle School | Pierre
Tennessee | Mark Arildsen | 6th | University School of Nashville | Nashville
Texas | Jiawei Li | 7th | Beck Junior High | Katy
Utah | Jeffrey Bennett | 8th | Midvale Middle School | Midvale
Vermont | Lucas Earl | 8th | Randolph Union Jr./Sr. High School | Randolph
Virginia | José Antonio de la Peña | 7th | Families in Support of Home Education | Burke
Virgin Islands | Sean Marin | 8th | St. Croix Country Day School | St. Croix
Washington | Caitlin Snaring | 7th | Family Learning Center | Redmond
West Virginia | Joshua Hamrick | 8th | Webster Springs Middle School | Webster Springs
Wisconsin | Oliver Buchino | 8th | Marshall Middle School | Marshall
Wyoming | James Mothersbaugh | 6th | Park Elementary School | Casper

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Kramer, Melody. "Alex Trebek: On Hosting the National Geographic Bee". National Geographic. Archived from the original on June 17, 2013.
2. ^ Harder, Ben. "Illinois Eighth Grader Wins National Geographic Bee". National Geographic News. Archived from the original on June 15, 2006.

## External links

[edit]

* National Geographic Bee official website

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National Geographic Bee Competitions

* 1989 (1st)
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* List of National Geographic Bee champions

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