28th National Geographic Bee

Date| May 22–25, 2016
Location| Washington, D.C.
Winner| Rishi Nair
Age| 12
Residence| Tampa, Florida
No. of contestants| 54
Preceded by| 27th National Geographic Bee
Followed by| 29th National Geographic Bee

The 28th annual National Geographic Bee was held between May 22–25, 2016 in Washington, DC. For the first time, the bee was moderated by the American humorist, journalist and actor Mo Rocca and featured a grand prize of a $50,000 college scholarship.[1][2] The champion was Rishi Nair of Williams Magnet Middle School in Tampa, Florida, who won the $50,000 scholarship, lifetime membership to the National Geographic Society, and a Lindblad expedition to southeast Alaska.[3] The 2nd-place winner was Saketh Jonnalagadda of Stony Brook Middle School in Westford, Massachusetts, who won a $25,000 scholarship. The 3rd-place winner was Kapil Nathan of Brock's Gap Intermediate School in Hoover, Alabama, who won a $10,000 scholarship. Rishi was also the First sixth-grade National Champion since 2008.

## 2016 State Champions[edit]

State | Name | School | City/Town | Grade | Place

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|
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Alabama | Kapil Nathan  | Brock's Gap Intermediate School | Hoover | 6th  | 3rd
Alaska | Ben Ng  | Floyd Dryden Middle School | Juneau | 8th
Arizona | Ari Mehta  | Explorer Middle School | Phoenix | 8th
Arkansas | D. J. Quezada  | Haas Hall Academy | Bentonville | 8th
Atlantic Territories  | Matthew Haughton  | Antilles School | St. Thomas, VI | 7th
California | Nishaanth Krishnan  | Utt Middle School | Tustin | 8th
Colorado | Cooper Hanley  | Louisville Middle School | Louisville | 7th
Connecticut | Ritwik Bose  | Scotts Ridge Middle School | Ridgefield | 8th
Delaware | Eric Smith  | Postlethwait Middle School | Camden | 8th
Department of Defense | Connor Buchheit  | Wiesbaden Middle School | Wiesbaden, Germany  | 7th
District of Columbia | Max Garon  | Sidwell Friends Middle School | Washington, DC  | 6th
Florida | Rishi Nair  | Williams Magnet Middle School | Tampa | 6th  | Champion
Georgia | Jerome Perera  | Taylor Road Middle School | Johns Creek | 7th
Hawaii | Mika Ishii  | Kaimuki Middle School | Honolulu | 8th
Idaho | Nicholas Monahan  | Payette Lakes Middle School | McCall | 7th
Illinois | Mantra Dave  | Chiddix Junior High School | Normal | 8th
Indiana | Simon Molenaar  | Highland Christian School | Highland | 7th
Iowa | Patrick Taylor  | Northwest Junior High School | Coralville | 8th
Kansas | Aviral Misra  | Prairie Star Middle School | Leawood | 8th
Kentucky | Shyam Ravishankar  | Noe Middle School | Louisville | 8th
Louisiana | Luke Andel  | Isidore Newman School | New Orleans | 8th
Maine | Haden Buzzell  | Massabesic Middle School | East Waterboro | 6th
Maryland | Rishi Kumar  | Worthington Elementary School | Ellicott City | 5th  | T-4
Massachusetts | Saketh Jonnalagadda  | Stony Brook Middle School | Westford | 8th  | 2nd
Michigan | Pranav Arunandhi  | Reuther Middle School | Rochester Hills | 8th
Minnesota | Lucas Eggers  | STAR Homeschool Academy | Minnetonka | 7th  | 7th
Mississippi | Edmund Doerksen  | Oxford Middle School | Oxford | 7th
Missouri | Nikhil Krishnan  | Rockwood South Middle School | Fenton | 8th
Montana | Grace Rembert  | Sacajawea Middle School | Bozeman | 8th  | T-4
Nebraska | Deeksha Sridhar  | Millard North Middle School | Omaha | 6th
Nevada | Spencer Gabe  | Las Vegas Day School | Las Vegas | 8th
New Hampshire | Abhinav Govindaraju  | Shaker Road School | Concord | 6th
New Jersey | Veda Bhattaram  | Robert R. Lazar Middle School | Montville | 6th
New Mexico | Lakshay Sood  | Manzano Day School | Albuquerque | 5th
New York | Ethan Tsvayg  | Mark Twain Intermediate School 239 | Brooklyn/Staten Island | 7th
North Carolina | Samanyu Dixit  | Jay M. Robinson Middle School | Charlotte | 6th  | T-8
North Dakota | Jonathan Farnsworth  | Valley Middle School | Grand Forks | 8th
Ohio | Saket Pochiraju  | Olentangy Orange Middle School  | Lewis Center | 6th
Oklahoma | Keane VanTrease  | Jenks Middle School | Jenks | 8th
Oregon | Ashwin Sivakumar  | Oregon Episcopal School | Portland | 6th  | T-8
Pacific Territories  | Victoria Nicole Santos  | Marianas Baptist Academy | Saipan, MP | 7th
Pennsylvania | Benjamin Fischer  | Vida Charter School | Gettysburg | 5th
Rhode Island | Eli Fulton  | Rhode Island of Home Educators | Rumford | 8th
South Carolina | Joshua Woodfin  | Greenville County Home Educators | Simpsonville | 8th
South Dakota | Owen Fink  | Bridgewater-Emery School | Bridgewater | 5th
Tennessee | John Webster  | Evangelical Christian School | Cordova | 8th
Texas | Pranay Varada  | DeWitt Perry Middle School | Carrollton | 7th  | 6th
Utah | Ankit Garg  | Bear River Charter School | Logan | 6th
Vermont | Isaac Krementsov  | Shelburne Community School | Shelburne | 7th
Virginia | Vishvesha Sridhar  | Blackburg Middle School | Blacksburg | 8th
Washington | Satvik Kabbur  | Bear Creek Elementary School | Woodinville | 4th
West Virginia | Surya Perla  | Andrew Jackson Middle School | Charleston | 8th
Wisconsin | Thomas Wright  | University School of Milwaukee | Milwaukee | 7th  | T-8
Wyoming | Degory Day  | Evanston Middle School | Evanston | 7th

## Preliminary rounds[edit]

Ten preliminary rounds held on May 23, 2016. Each State Champion had to answer ten oral questions, and prior to their arrival in Washington, D.C., had to submit a video related to a topic. The video was worth up to six points, hence the highest possible number of points was 16. One 16 and 4 15s were scored. A 9-way tie for 14 pts was broken with 4 exiting the competition. The ten finalists were announced around 11:30. The top ten finalists were as follows:

* Kapil Nathan- from Alabama; 14/16 (9/10 + 5/6)
* Rishi Nair- from Florida; 15/16 (10/10 + 5/6)
* Rishi Kumar- from Maryland; 14/16 (8/10 + 6/6)
* Saketh Jonnalagadda- from Massachusetts; 14/16 (9/10 + 5/6)
* Lucas Eggers- from Minnesota; 16/16 (10/10 + 6/6) (only one with a perfect score in the preliminary rounds)
* Grace Rembert- from Montana; 15/16 (10/10 + 5/6)
* Samanyu Dixit- from North Carolina; 15/16 (10/10 + 5/6)
* Ashwin Sivakumar- from Oregon; 15/16 (9/10 + 6/6)
* Pranay Varada- from Texas; 14/16 (9/10 + 5/6)
* Thomas Wright- from Wisconsin; 14/16 (9/10 + 5/6)

[4]

## Final rounds[edit]

The finals consisted of questions regarding the U.S. through Rounds 1–5, with 4 eliminated once Round 5 was over. A tie existed between Rishi Kumar and Lucas Eggers, with the latter exiting the competition. After that, questions regarding the world appeared. A three-way tie existed between Grace Rembert, Rishi Kumar again, and Kapil Nathan with the latter entering the final three. After Nathan was eliminated, the final two moved on to the Championships – Jonnalagadda and Nair. The latter won the competition.[3]

## References[edit]

1. ^ "National Geographic Bee". National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on March 20, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
2. ^ "Oxford student named National Geographic Bee semi-finalist". Archived from the original on April 13, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
3. ^ a b "Press". Archived from the original on May 30, 2016.
4. ^ "Press". Archived from the original on May 30, 2016.

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National Geographic Bee Competitions

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