Students Hoping for Trip to Asia Pack Knowledge

The question still resonates in the mind of English teacher Bill Csellak: “Who wrote ‘The Gulag Archipelago?’ ”

So do the blank stares of his four whiz kids from Westlake High School when, during The Times’ Ambassadors to Moscow competition three years ago, they failed to respond “Alexander Solzhenitsyn, of course.”

The Westlake squad ended up fifth in a field of 12 finalists, losing an all-expenses-paid tour of Russia in heart-breaking fashion. Only the top four schools made the cut.

But that was then, this is now. And Csellak is confident that he and his new team of students--one of 10 finalists in this year’s Ambassadors to Singapore contest--are not going to make any silly mistakes in their quest for a free nine-day excursion to the southeast Asian country.

“I think I was the most upset, to be so near and yet so far,” Csellak said of the Solzhenitsyn folly.

“We should have known that one. But these boys are really desirous of going to Singapore. They have completely immersed themselves.”

Westlake High was one of several hundred high schools from throughout Southern California that submitted essays to the contest, sponsored by The Times in Education.

The Westlake students’ piece contrasting the youth problems of Singapore and the United States got them into the finals.

But as they learned a few years ago, the toughest hurdle is the oral competition.

It will take place April 18 at The Times’ Harry Chandler Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles.

The six-round battle of brainpower focuses on more than Singapore--participants also have to be up on the history, culture and politics of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Some of the questions will come directly from articles that appeared earlier this year in The Times.

To better prepare for the challenge, the four-student team has divided the daunting workload, with each member focusing on one country in addition to Singapore.

The squad is made up of two sophomores, Aaron Ruckoff and Jonathan Nungester, and two juniors, Marcus Ulrich and Matt Hespenheide.

Aaron, 16, is the Malaysian expert. Before the contest, he acknowledged, his knowledge of the small Asian nation was largely shaped by “talking to a Malaysian guy on a flight.”

Now, he realizes, he needs to know much more.

“We really didn’t expect to get this far,” Aaron said.

“Now we have to buckle down. It’s a 50-50 chance right now, and all the schools want to be in that one-half that gets to go, so we have to prepare hard.”

Jonathan, 15, has been focusing on Singapore, cramming with other team members during school lunch and then for several hours after school.

“It’s a very exciting experience,” he said. “Some of the people I know didn’t want to take part in this. They all wish they were in it now.”