7 Indian American Students among Champions of 2016 National Geographic Bee

Seven Indian American students stood out with flying colors in the 2016 National Geographic Bee competition. Rishi Nair from the state of Florida won the competition this year. He is followed by two other Indian American boys, Saketh Jonnalagadda and Kapil Nathan, who stood second and third respectively.

Rishi Nair is a sixth-grader at William Lincoln Magnet School in Plant City, Florida. The runner-up Saketh Jonnalagadda is an 8^th grader at Stony Brook Middle School in Westford, Massachusetts. The second runner-up Kapil Nathan is a 6^th grader from Hoover in the state of Alabama.

12-year-old Rishi Nair, who got six of the seven answers right in the 2016 National Geographic Bee Grand Finale in Washington DC, received a $50,000 college scholarship and a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society. He will also get an 8-day adventure trip to Southeast Alaska with a stopover at Glacier Bay National Park. The National Geographic Society and Lindblad Expeditions will jointly bear all expenses for the trip.

14-year-old Saketh Jonnalagadda from Massachusetts, the first runner-up, bagged a $25,000 college scholarship, while a $10,000 college scholarship was awarded to 12-year-old Kapil Nathan from Alabama, the second runner-up. Saketh Jonnalagadda got five answers right, whereas Kapil got four answers right.

The seven other finalists in the 2016 National Geographic Bee include four Indian Americans: Rishi Kumar, a 10-year-old 5^th grader from Maryland; Pranay Varada, a 13-year-old 7^th grader from Irvin in Texas; Samanyu Dixit, a 12-year-old 6^th grader from North Carolina, and Ashwin Shivakumar, an 11-year-old 6^th grader from Oregon. Each of them received $500.

Rishi Nair credited his National Geographic Bee championship to his mother. Rishi is the second Florida resident to have become the national champion. In 2010, 8^th grader Aadith Moorthy of Palm Harbor was the Florida student to have won the National Geographic Bee.

Almost 3 million students from 11,000 schools across the US took part in the 2016 National Geographic Bee competition. The final round which was held today in Washington DC will be aired on the National Geographic Channel and Nat GEO WILD on Friday, May 27.

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