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Area middle-schoolers ranked in top 10 in state for geography
By EMMALEE C. TORISK
STRUTHERS
There aren’t many sixth-graders who would voluntarily read a book about the country of Bulgaria, as 12-year-old Johnathan Morris did in the days leading up to the Ohio National Geographic Bee.
But Johnathan, who attends Struthers Middle School, isn’t exactly your average sixth-grader.
On April 4, during the state-level competition at Columbus State University, Johnathan skillfully navigated his way through multiple rounds of increasingly difficult questions that tested his geographic knowledge — and emerged as seventh-best in the state.
His competition at the state bee consisted of 104 other students in fourth through eighth grades — many of whom he encountered at last year’s competition. Last year, as a fifth-grader, Johnathan was the first Struthers Middle School semifinalist in recent memory who was eligible to compete in the state bee. This year was the first time Johnathan made it into the top 10.
“It seemed different because I was more prepared for it,” Johnathan said. “I probably studied harder.”
One of Johnathan’s competitors was 14-year-old Pranav Padmanabhan, an eighth-grader at Boardman’s Glenwood Middle School, who took third place this year — his third competing at the state level.
Both Pranav, the son of Padu Ramasundaram and Vidya Vaithianathan of Boardman, and Johnathan, the son of Monte and Kerri Morris of Struthers, explained that learning about geography has long been a favorite hobby of theirs.
For Pranav, he was drawn in by a desire to know more about the world’s countries — their interactions with other nations, their histories, their people and cultures.
For Johnathan, his love of geography began early, around the age of 4, when he became consumed with looking at globes and maps, Kerri Morris recalled. By the age of 5, he could identify all the U.S. state capitals.
Don McCaughtry of Columbiana, Johnathan’s grandfather, said he can remember quizzing a very young Johnathan about the borders of countries or the rivers that run through them. McCaughtry added that his own passion for the subject might have rubbed off on his grandson.
“If he goes nuts over geography, that’s my fault,” he said, laughing. “I’ve always been interested in knowing where the news was taking place or when countries changed names.”
It was with McCaughtry that Johnathan set his goal for this year’s state bee: Make it to the stage, or the final round of the competition. Johnathan and his grandfather didn’t leave disappointed. Just 10 student competitors — out of the more than 100 who were part of the competition at the day’s start, but were eliminated during multiple rounds of questioning — advance to this level.
But to even make it to the state level is a feat on its own, said Anton Kos, a seventh-grade social-studies teacher at Struthers Middle School. He explained that students first must win a geography bee at their school, then score in the statewide top 100 on a qualifying test.
“With the questions that these kids answer, they’re unreal,” Kos said. “It blows your mind to think how smart these kids are.”
Vince Carnevale, an eighth-grade American-history teacher at Boardman Glenwood Middle School, also emphasized how rare it is for students to qualify for the state-level competition, especially with more than 600 school districts in the state.
The students who do qualify, Carnevale added, must have a well-rounded knowledge of geography. Categories include U.S. geography, current events and culture — while typical questions range from identifying whether the Sierra Leone or Libya is larger, or whether swamps or marshes are more populated with trees.
As a parent, watching your child tackle such questions is a proud moment, especially after seeing all of the “hours and hours of studying” that went into preparing, said Monte Morris.
“To sit and watch your kid work at something — it doesn’t matter what they’re doing — is pretty satisfying,” he said. “It’s nice to see him rewarded for that.”
Johnathan said he’s taking a break from studying for a couple of months, but eventually will resume with the hope of making it to the national bee in Washington, sometime within the next two years. And Pranav, though he’s no longer eligible to compete, offered up some advice for future competitors.
“Definitely take it seriously, and do a lot of preparation before the competition,” he said. “But have fun.”