Worldly Wise Boy Wins Competition

It took an instant replay to settle a disputed call in the National Geographic Bee, then the youngest contestant, 10-year-old Calvin McCarter of Jenison, Mich., emerged the winner

McCarter, standing just 4 feet, 6 inches in a room full of bigger youngsters, many of them teen-agers, claimed victory Wednesday by correctly identifying China as the location of the Lop Nur nuclear test site.

It’ll be a few years before he can use the main prize--a $25,000 college scholarship. He also won a lifetime subscription to National Geographic magazine.

McCarter is taught at home by his mother, Charlotte. His father, Parnell McCarter, an accountant, said the family decided on home schooling to have their children receive a Christian education “in an atmosphere where there is a love of learning.”

Young McCarter said he prefers being home-schooled because he gets more personal attention. In public school, he said, “you can’t make children listen.”

It was touch-and-go for a while Wednesday when a questioned call threatened to eliminate the fifth-grader.

The tense moments came when the last three contestants were battling for the two championship slots.

McCarter missed the name of warm, dry mountain winds in Europe. He said mistral, but the correct answer was foehn.

Matthew Russell of Bradford, Pa., correctly named Estonia as the country which claims the islands of Muhu, Hiiumaa and Saaremaa.

Then Erik Miller of Kent, Wash., was asked to name the country where shadow puppet shows called wayang are common. He correctly answered Indonesia, seemingly just as the time buzzer rang.

Host Alex Trebek ruled that the answer came too late, but judges in the audience said it was in time.

The decision was crucial because a correct answer by Miller would have eliminated McCarter.

Trebek sent the judges to the broadcast truck to view the replay and when they returned they reversed themselves and agreed with Trebek, the answer was too late.

That meant that McCarter and Miller had to compete against each other to face Russell in the finals. McCarter won by knowing that the Kamchatka Peninsula separates the Bering Sea from the Sea of Okhotsk.

Then it was McCarter against Russell for the title, and the diminutive McCarter prevailed.