Stevenson freshman Shankar Harikrishnan places fourth at International Geography Championships
Shankar Harikrishnan, a freshman at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, placed fourth in the world at the International Geography Championships held in July in Vienna, Austria.
Shankar has been participating in different geography competitions since third grade. It all started when he participated in his first geography bee at his school in 2018, in which he placed first.
“That was the spark that motivated me to participate in more competitions,” he said.
Shankar represented Illinois in the competition, also delivering the state an impressive seventh place in the International Geography Bowl.
Furthermore, he brought home a second-place award in Task Force: Urban Planning, a competition aimed at promoting collaboration between cities to work for future sustainable development. He represented New Delhi and brought innovative new ideas to the table to improve the city of Vienna through collaboration with other like-minded cities.
“I was disheartened to see the levels of pollution that ordinary Delhiites face daily, and was motivated by that to spark real change,” Shankar said.
Shankar is the only student in his division from Illinois to make it to the top 10 scores in the competition.
Competition was not the only highlight during Shankar’s trip to Vienna; exploring a new city was something he had looked forward to for months.
“Traveling is one of my favorite hobbies, and being able to experience a new city for the first time is an experience I will never forget,” he said. “By using public transportation the entire time, I was able to get to know the city in ways that I never would have seen by going by car the entire trip.”
Specifically, he enjoyed visiting the Vienna International Centre and the United Nations in Vienna, which he found particularly interesting due to his belief that “it was really stunning to see that this building, this concrete structure, is home to some of the finest acts of diplomacy that shape our future.
“This experience also shaped my perception of different competitions. I have been participating in the Model United Nations competition for quite some time now and have won Best Delegate and other accolades multiple times. By physically visiting an office of the U.N. in person, I developed a new sense of purpose of what I was doing in MUN; knowing that my collaborations with others in the simulation reflects what world leaders do every day to ensure a bright future for the next generation,” he said.
The International Geography Championships are run by the organization International Academic Competitions, which also runs the International History Olympiad and International Environmental Science Olympiad.