Ha'iku boy trips on name change in geography bee

By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawai'i's 13-year-old geography whiz Jerome Asuncion of Ha'iku, Maui, was eliminated from the National Geographic Bee in Washington, D.C., yesterday as 10 finalists were selected from 55 state and territorial champions to move on to the decisive questions today.

Jerome handled his toughest question, naming Mongolia as the country where tribes have festivals in Ulan Bator, and correctly answered four others as well.

But he stumbled a bit when asked about the tribe living in beehive-shaped huts in Uganda and what country they moved to as refugees from their civil war.

"I said Zaire, which is correct, but the new name of the country is the People's Republic of the Congo," a disappointed Jerome said yesterday. And he answered "Amazon" when he should have said "Orinoco" to a question about the river where spinner dolphins were dying in Guyana.

Jerome's mother, Ann-Marie Asuncion, said he was among many of the semifinalists who shed a few tears when they were eliminated from the tough competition yesterday.

"He did his best, and he does this because he has loved it ever since he got interested in history and world wars, which he read about even before he was talking," she said.

"He's my little Einstein, and the state would be proud to have him as an ambassador, spreading the aloha to all the people here," said Asuncion, a receptionist who sold chili tickets to raise $2,100 so she and her husband and daughter could accompany Jerome and his Kamehameha Middle School teacher, Shirley Todd, on the trip.

"I'm OK, I just feel I could have done better," Jerome said. "I really knew the answers and I could have gotten some of those questions right."

Jerome, who likes to surf the Web and the waves, said geography is important "because of everything happening around the world right now. People need to know where Afghanistan is, where Cuba is, where Israel is."

Reach Walter Wright at wwright@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8054.