Odds are he'll never go there, but Benjamin Salman is likely never to forget Novosibirsk, Siberia's biggest city.
That's because when Salman, a home-schooled 14-year-old from Queen Anne, uttered the city's name, he won National Geographic's state geography bee and earned himself a trip to Washington D.C. where he'll compete for the national title.
"I did not expect to win at all," he said by cell phone from a Fremont Coldstone Creamery where, after the competition, he hunkered down before a bowl of raspberry-flavored ice cream and celebrated the wild day with his family and friends.
His best friend, Leo Zucker, also of Queen Anne, was a competitor in the competition and made it to the semi-finals. And two other Queen Anners, Jackson Studzinski and Alexander McCullough also entered the contest and were among more than 100 kids from throughout the state who made a bid for the championship held last Friday at Stadium High School in Tacoma.
McCullough, a seventh-grader at St. Joseph's beat 650 other kids to represent his school. He made it to the semi-finals but was stalled when asked: Which river does not flow predominately North: The Nile, the MacKenzie River (Alaska) or the Volga River? He guessed MacKenzie, but it was the Volga.
"At first I was nervous but they gave us some time to warm up and asked us some practice questions," McCullough said.
Zucker made it to the preliminary round but he too was stalled by a water question: What type of stream is formed by constant or past rainfall, perennial or intermittent? It was intermittent.
Salman has been friends with Zucker ever since they attend the Matheia School together, and they carpooled down to the event with Salman's mom, Sarah McCord and Zucker's dad, Jeremy. Salman's father, Mark, who is a professional classical pianist fielded occasional calls from McCord who was saying, "He's in the finals so think good thoughts," Mark Salman remembered. Later in the day she called her husband again and said, "Congratulations, you're the dad of the state geography bee champ!"
The parents of the champ weren't too surprised as their son has always liked geography and about four years ago asked for a big National Geographic atlas for Christmas.
"He was totally self-motivated," Mark Salman recalled.
Benjamin Salman is also an accomplished violinist, pianist and has written a symphony and is working on mastering others by Beethoven. He had planned to participate in a school concert in Anaheim, Calif., but that' the same weekend as the national geography bee championships: May 19-20.
"It's weird because he's always loved geography," said McCord. "But this past year he's gotten so much into music and composition so I was surprised that he still remembered all those geography things."
And Benjamin Salman said he will study for the national bee.[[In-content Ad]]
