In the News

From the January 16, 2007 issue of The Cape Cod Times

On top of the world

Geography is easy for Nathan Scalise

By PATRICK CASSIDY, STAFF WRITER, BREWSTER

"All you have to do is memorize a map of the world," Nathan, 13, said yesterday at his family's home on Beech Tree Drive.

A firm grasp of the globe seems to run in the Scalise family.

Nathan, far left, and Greg Scalise each won the geography bee at their respective schools. They could face each other in the state competition if test scores put them in the top 100. (Staff photo by Patrick Cassidy) Nathan and his 10-year-old brother Greg could end up facing off in a statewide geography bee later this year.

If both boys score in the top 100 in a test given immediately after they won their respective schools' geography showdowns last week, they'll move on to the state competition.

The winner goes on to Washington, D.C., to compete for a $25,000 scholarship.

Nathan attends the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School in Orleans and Greg is a fifth-grader at Eddy Elementary School in Brewster.

The two will vie for a spot at the state level with the likes of John Sullivan, an eighth-grader from Barnstable Middle School.

"This is the only year they could both go to the states," said the boys' father, the Rev. Doug Scalise, senior pastor at the Brewster Baptist Church.

Because they'll attend school together next year, only one will have the opportunity to move on to the states.

"These two have definitely placed themselves on a whole different level," said Rafe Torres, a fifth-grade teacher at Eddy Elementary School who taught both brothers.

Nathan is a three-time winner at the local level, and in the state competition he missed being one of 10 finalists by one question last year.

"The No. 1 part for me is that they are both extremely supportive of each other," Torres said.

Despite such support, it's clear that if the pair go head-to-head they won't pull any punches.

Greg was quick to point out how his older brother was knocked out of the state competition when he mispronounced a word. "People are there with professional geography tutors and books on how to train," said Nathan and Greg's mother, Jill Scalise, a social worker with the Cape Cod Council of Churches in Hyannis.

The Scalises don't take the competition so seriously, but that's not to say geography, history and current events aren't a constant topic of the family's conversation.

The boys' favorite TV channel is The History Channel, and maps, atlases and globes are clearly important in their home.

Jill Scalise has traveled since she was young and has visited countries including Japan, Greece and the former Soviet Union.

When Doug Scalise went on a sabbatical to the United Kingdom four years ago, he took the entire family.

"We walked their little legs off," he said of his sons.

In between trading geographic challenges about SMOM - the Sovereign Military Order of Malta - and Moron, Mongolia, where the main export is reindeer, Nathan and Greg said they would like to visit Italy.

With a name like Scalise what do you expect, their father said.

Patrick Cassidy can be reached at pcassidy@capecodonline.com.

(Published: January 16, 2007)