GeoEd Foundation Inc
(A Florida Not for Profit Corporation)
Leadership Team
Kumar Nandur
Coach Kumar started free coaching for Geographic Bee about 16 years ago. Along the way, nearly three hundred of his students have gone on to become school champions and participated in state level competitions in 37 states. In the last 7 years, they have bagged three national championships, three national #2 spots and 25 state championships. He founded the highly successful Tampa GeoBee program with the help of parent volunteers and Gurukulam of Tampa Bay. He actively volunteers for North South Foundation by conducting classes for GeoBee coaches, participating in the annual meet the pro sessions and by doing workshops in various parts of the country. His other interests are playing Tennis and Table Tennis, travel, movies and music.
"One thing I have learned as a competitor is that there is a clear distinction between what it takes to be decent, what it takes to be good, what it takes to be great and what it takes to be among the best..." - Josh Waitzkin
Gayathri Chandrasekhar
Having worked in the IT field for over 10 years, Gayathri became a volunteer SAT Math coach for 6 years at the local temple and then since 2010 got involved with Geography Bee classes held at USF Tampa. She was an active volunteer till 2015 at Tampa GeoBee, having taught and coached hundreds of kids both at the local and national level. She conducted workshops and trained the coaches for the North South Foundation and participated in the annual retreats conducted by the Tampa GeoBee group. Her other interests are travel, photography, Carnatic music and keeping on top of current Events.
Akhil Rekulapelli
As Coach Kumar's student, Akhil Rekulapelli was the 2013 and 2014 Virginia State Champion, as well as the 2014 National Champion. He is currently a junior at Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Virginia, and participates in a variety of clubs such as Model UN, Quiz Bowl, and Biology Olympiad, and is also part of his school’s 2016 Virginia State Championship winning rowing team. He is excited to see the GeoEd Foundation grow, and hopes to see it reach more and more people and spread awareness about geography, especially in underserved populations.
Favorite Quote: “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful, that's what matters to me.”- Steve Jobs
Karan Menon
Karan Menon is the 2015 National Geographic Bee Champion and the 2015 US Geography Olympiad JV National Champion. Karan’s interest in the subject of geography started at age 3 with maps and capitals. He participated in the National Geographic Bee through 7th and 8th grades during which he was a student of Coach Kumar. At the 2015 NatGeoBee finals, Karan became the first person in the history of the competition to successfully challenge a question. He is currently a 10th grader at JP Stevens High School in Edison, NJ. Karan enjoys to read, listen to music, code, travel and is a huge fan of Harry Potter. At school, he is the founder and captain of the History Bowl team, which made it to nationals last year. Karan runs a Google+ blog called GeoBee City (www.tinyurl.com/geobeecity) where geo enthusiasts collaborate to prepare for the competition.
" After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb" - Nelson Mandela
Srinivas Kapaganty
Srini is seasoned IT professional with 25+ years industry experience. He is involved with Geo Bee from last 3 years and helping out with various data mining and IT work to help out the students interested in Geo Bee. He is very committed to giving back to the community and participates in various volunteer activities. Srini loves cricket, working in yard and home improvement projects in his free time.
"If you evolve within you, there will be no pride, no prejudice. You will perform actions out of pure, absolute sense."
- Sadhguru (Jaggi Vasudev)
Shriya Sai Yarlagadda
Captain of national award-winning robotics team, Major Trouble
Loves to read, spend time with friends, travel, and advocate for geography awareness
"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." -Jimmy Dean
Coach Kumar's Wall of Fame
Aadith Moorthy, FL (2010 National Champion)
Maya Patel, FL (2012 State Champion) Neha Middela, MI (2013 State Champion)
Akhil Rekulapelli, VA (2014 National Champion) Ameya Mujumdar, FL (2014 National Runner-Up)
Christian Gonzalez, AL (2014 State Champion) S ravya Kuchibhotla, NC (2014 State Champion) Shirlin Kingston, IA (2014 State Champion)
Karan Menon, NJ (2015 National Champion) Shriya Yarlagadda, MI (2015 National Runner-Up)
Grace Rembert, MT (2015 State Champion) Arnav Roy Patra, NY (2015 State Champion) Rohan Kanchana, DE (2015 State Champion)
Lucy Chae, MA (2015 State Champion) Pranav Kanmadikar, KY (2015 State Champion) Sean Ness, ND (2015 State Champion)
Nikhil Krishnan, MO (2015 State Champion) Vibhav Kanyadan, GA (2015 State Champion) Madhavan Krishnan, CA (2015 State Champion)
Pranay Varada, TX (2016 State Champion) Saket Pochiraju, OH (2016 State Champion) Pranav Arunandhi, MI (2016 State Champion)
Satvik Kabbur, WA (2016 State Champion) Abhinav Govindaraju, NH (2016 State Champion)
Saketh Jonnalagadda, MA (2016 National Runner-up) Grace Rembert, MT (2016 State Champion)
Nikhil Krishnan, MO (2016 State Champion) Vishvesha Sridhar, VA (2016 State Champion) Nishaanth Krishnan, CA (2016 State Champion)
2016 National Championship Results
Saketh Jonnalagadda - National Runner-up Grace Rembert - 4th place Pranay Varada - 6th place
2016 State Champions
Pranay Varada (7), Texas Saket Pochiraju (6), Ohio Pranav Arunandhi (8), Michigan Satvik Kabbur (4), Washington
Abhinav Govindaraju (6), New Hampshire Saketh Jonnalagadda (8), Massachusetts Grace Rembert (8), Montana
Nikhil Krishnan (8), Missouri Vishvesha Sridhar (8), Virginia Nishaanth Krishnan (8), California
2016 State Competition - Top 10
Sandhya Ganesh (6), FL - Second Place Arnav Roy Patra (8), NY - Second Place Lucy Chae (8), MA - Second Place
Arjun Nathan (7), CA - Second Place Ved Shewale (7), IL - Second Place Prithvi Nathan (8), VA - Second Place
Siddharth Karthikeyan (4), MI - Second Place Mukund Viswanadha (8), MO - Second Place Riju Datta (8), FL - Third Place
Abhiram Kapaganty (4), GA - Third Place Daniel Purizhansky (8), NY - Third Place Praneeth Rathi (7), IL - Fourth Place
David Camacho (7), NM - Fourth Place Sathvik Rayala (8), OH - Fourth Place Ashmith Kumbala (4), TX - Fourth Place
Pranav Krishna Kumar (7), NC - Fourth Place Sahan Yelavarthi (6), IL - Fifth Place Hirsh Kabaria (8), FL - Sixth Place
Navya Ashok (4), MI - Sixth Place Rohith Madhuker (4) , NC - Seventh Place Jayant Gorrepati (4), WA - Tenth Place