Gower student lands geography bee prize
BY SANDY ILLIAN BOSCH sbosch@pioneerlocal.com January 17, 2012 10:40PM
Namit Sambare, Shaan Keswani and Sanjiv Sarma listen to a question and write down their answers during Gower Middle School's Geography Bee. | Steve Johnston~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 19, 2012 1:59AM
A little bit of logic and a good memory helped Namit Sambare answer the final question in last week’s geography bee at Gower Middle School.
The question was, “Rhineland, a region in Europe, is located in what country?”
“I went to Switzerland,” the seventh-grader from Burr Ridge said. “I saw the Rhine Falls and the Rhine River.”
Namit said it made sense to him that the Rhine would flow from Rhineland, and since Germany is north of Switzerland, Germany was his answer.
The question was the last of many that Namit had to answer correctly in order to become the 2012 geography bee champ. He and eight other contestants from the school’s sixth, seventh and eighth grades competed in front of the entire student body on Jan. 12.
Namit admits he was a little nervous at first, but as the questions continued, he gained confidence.
After 12 rounds of queries about continents, countries and capitals, the competition was finally narrowed to two — Namit and Haaris Alvi, an eighth-grader from Burr Ridge and a veteran of the annual contest. Haaris took second place as a seventh-grader.
In the end, he took second place again, leaving Namit to go on to compete for a spot in the state competition. He will take a state qualifying test next week.
If his score is among the top 100, he’ll compete again in April at the Field Museum. The winner of that bee will advance to the national competition in Washington, D.C., in May, where 10 finalists will compete for a $25,000 prize.
Namit said he’ll prepare for next week’s test with the help of his brother, a former second-place winner of the Gower Middle School Geography Bee.
Now 18 and in college, big brother Tanmaya will serve as Namit’s tutor.
Namit said he also has teacher Jennifer Lapacek to thank for his knowledge of the world’s geography.
“She held geography clubs every Thursday since the middle of September,” Namit said of the seventh-grade social studies teacher and geography club sponsor. “It helps a lot.”
Namit said he learned not only from the questions posed to him, but also from ones answered by other students during the weekly practice sessions.
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