CHICAGO: Sriram Hathwar, Arvind Mahankali, Snigdha Nandipati, Sukanya Roy, Anamika Veeramani, Kavya Shivashankar, Sameer Mishra – all Indian American youth.
They are by no means household names, yet they’ve graced American television screens. And they will always be linked as winners of the past seven National Spelling Bees.
But they have something else in common: all became champions after ascending through academic tournaments sponsored by the Chicago-based North South Foundation (NDF), a nonprofit organization that fosters education among Indian-American pupils and provides scholarships for high school graduates in India.
Celebrating its 25th year, the NSF runs local and national tournaments encompassing six academic areas besides spelling: vocabulary, geography, math, science, essay writing, and public speaking. There’s also an all-encompassing “Brain Bee.” All told, 85 chapters across the USA host competitions during March, April and May, with national finals held each August. More than 17,000 contestants typically compete.
In 2013, NSF introduced Universal Values, a 30-week program consisting of a one-hour-per-week online workshop to hone values in daily life, not just for the children, but for their parents and NSF’s legion of volunteers.
The foundation has given out more than $2.5 million in scholarships in India since 1989, at the rate of $250 per student for each of four years. That’s not much by U.S. tuition standards, but in India $250 pays for a year’s tuition at most government colleges, said Dr. Ratnam Chitturi, founder of NSF.
Established in 1989, NSF has awarded over 12,000 college scholarships so far.
NSF has also opened three contest centers in Hyderabad since 2001 and offers spelling, vocabulary, math, and science bee competitions to 1,700 participants.
NSF pupils made 2014 a signature year, garnering championships in five major national competitions: Spelling Bee, MATHCOUNTS, Geography Bee, Science Bowl and National History Bee.
In addition to Sriram Hathwar, the Spelling Bee co-winner, 8th grader Swapnil Garg from Sunnyvale, CA emerged as the victor in the 2014 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition in early May. NSF participants Akhil Rekulapelli, an 8th grader from Dulles, Va., and Ameya Mujumdar, a 5th grader from Tampa, Fl., captured 1st and 2nd places, respectively in the 2014 National Geographic Bee.
Snigdha Allaparthi from Westborough, Mass. and Abhijeet Sampangi from Andover, Mass, captained their team to 1st place in the 2014 Middle School National Science Bowl conducted by the US Department of Energy. Siddharth Kamannavar, a 3rd grader from Santa Clara, Calif., in 2014 became the youngest champion on record in the National History Bee, in the Elementary School Division.
Success begets success. Chitturi notes that earlier champions become role models and mentors in motivating and inspiring children in succeeding years. One of NSF’s first batch of students won a college scholarship in 1990 in India, came to the US after graduating, then returned to India 15 years later where he established a trust. He has since awarded hundreds of scholarships to financially challenged students.
The North South Foundation 2014 National Finals will be held on August 16-17 at the University of Texas at Dallas in Richardson, TX.
Surendra Ullal
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