Independence student, 14, wins state geography bee
- Sohan Shah won %24100 and a trip to Washington%2C D.C.%2C to compete in the National Geographic Bee.
- The national winner gets a %2450%2C000 college scholarship and a trip to the Galapagos Islands.
What sea in the Arctic Ocean separates the Taymyr Peninsula from the Novaya Zemlya archipelago?
Don't know? Sohan Shah, 14, does.
"The Kara Sea," he said, correctly answering the winning question at the 2014 Delaware Geographic Bee Friday morning in Dover.
The eighth grader from The Independence School in Newark beat nine other fourth through eighth graders during the final round without missing a single question, a rarity for the competition.
Shah won $100 and a trip to Washington, D.C., in May to represent Delaware in the National Geographic Bee. The winner there gets a $50,000 college scholarship and a trip to the Galapagos Islands.
To determine the finalists, Shah and 65 other contestants spent the morning answering questions about everything from where particular canyons were, to which state was home to a particular museum. The competition is rigorous and requires an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the world. Obscurity is a mainstay.
"I read a lot of history so I try to connect an obscure term with something that I've heard of before and then try to place it in the general area," he said. "I placed it in north central Russia and I knew the Kara Sea was in north central Russia."
The path to becoming this year's state champ was a long one. Shah said he started competing at the school level in the past couple years, but always placed second to the inevitable state champion, who graduated last year. This year was Shah's time.
"I'm so glad I got to win it," he said.
Shah said he started studying for this year's competition in November, poring over atlases, study guides and a self-compiled 100-page atlas guide of sorts that covered main points of about 190 countries. He'll do much of the same to prep for the national competition.
The studying, though, never really stops. Shah said he views geography as a link to the world.
"When I hear about things in the news, I always wonder where they are and geography helps me," he said.
His father, Sunjay, a physician, said his family tries to travel a lot and explore different parts of the world. It's a bonding, but also educational experience.
"Geography is great because it helps him understand what he hears in the news," Sunjay Shah said of his son. "When he hears about what's going on in the Ukraine, he understands the geography of Ukraine and the Crimea and he can understand it in a way that most people can't. It really helps him to take an interest in what's going on in the world and also appreciate different events that are occurring."
Jacqueline Wilson, state bee coordinator and retired geography and social studies teacher, said about 85 schools took part in this year's event. Interest in the competition and geography has rarely waned during her 24 years volunteering with the Bee.
"Geography covers every facet of life when you think about it," she said. "You have the political, you have the physical, you have the cultural. There is something for everyone."
Contact Jon Offredo at (302) 678-4271 or at joffredo@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @jonoffredo.