National Spelling Bee success as easy as ABC for 14-year-old
Source: Agencies |
June 2, 2012, Saturday
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SNIGDHA Nandipati heard a few words she didn't know during the United States National Spelling Bee, but never when she stepped to the microphone.
Calm and collected throughout, the 14-year-old Indian-American from San Diego spelled "guetapens," a French-derived word that means ambush, snare or trap, to win the 85th Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night in National Harbor, Maryland.
She beat eight other finalists in the nerve-wracking, brain-busting competition.
After she spelled the word, she looked from side to side, as if unsure her accomplishment was real, and, oddly, she was not immediately announced as the winner. Applause built slowly, and a few pieces of confetti trickled out before showering her. Then her 10-year-old brother ran on stage and embraced her, and she beamed.
"I knew it. I'd seen it before," Nandipati said of the winning word. "I just wanted to ask everything I could before I started spelling."
A coin collector and Sherlock Holmes fan, Nandipati aspires to become a physician or neurosurgeon. She also plays violin and is fluent in Telugu, a language spoken in southeastern India.
A semifinalist last year, Nandipati became the fifth consecutive Indian-American winner and 10th in the last 14 years, a run that began in 1999 when Nupur Lala won and was later featured in the documentary "Spellbound."
The teen showed little emotion while spelling, working her way through each word. Only a few of the words given to other spellers were unfamiliar to her, she said.
Her brother and parents joined her onstage after the victory, along with her maternal grandparents, who traveled from Hyderabad, India, to watch her. As she held the trophy aloft, her brother, Sujan, pushed the corners of her mouth apart to broaden her smile.
Her father, Krishnarao, said Snigdha first showed an interest in spelling as early as age four. As she rode in the car, he would call out the words he saw on billboards and she would spell them.
In the run-up to the bee, Nandipanti studied 6 to 10 hours a day on weekdays and 10-12 hours on weekends - a regimen that she'll need to maintain to get through medical school, her father said.
"She says this is harder than being a neurosurgeon - maybe," said her mother, Madhavi.
Stuti Mishra of West Melbourne, Florida, finished second after misspelling "schwarmerei" - which means unbridled enthusiasm. Nandipanti and Mishra frequently high-fived each other after spelling correctly.
Nandipati's prize haul includes US$30,000 in cash, a trophy, a US$2,500 savings bond, a US$5,000 scholarship, US$2,600 in reference works and a language course.
The week began with 278 spellers, including the youngest in the history of the competition - six-year-old Lori Anne Madison of Lake Ridge, Virginia. She was just two misspelled words away from a semifinal berth.
Calm and collected throughout, the 14-year-old Indian-American from San Diego spelled "guetapens," a French-derived word that means ambush, snare or trap, to win the 85th Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night in National Harbor, Maryland.
She beat eight other finalists in the nerve-wracking, brain-busting competition.
After she spelled the word, she looked from side to side, as if unsure her accomplishment was real, and, oddly, she was not immediately announced as the winner. Applause built slowly, and a few pieces of confetti trickled out before showering her. Then her 10-year-old brother ran on stage and embraced her, and she beamed.
"I knew it. I'd seen it before," Nandipati said of the winning word. "I just wanted to ask everything I could before I started spelling."
A coin collector and Sherlock Holmes fan, Nandipati aspires to become a physician or neurosurgeon. She also plays violin and is fluent in Telugu, a language spoken in southeastern India.
A semifinalist last year, Nandipati became the fifth consecutive Indian-American winner and 10th in the last 14 years, a run that began in 1999 when Nupur Lala won and was later featured in the documentary "Spellbound."
The teen showed little emotion while spelling, working her way through each word. Only a few of the words given to other spellers were unfamiliar to her, she said.
Her brother and parents joined her onstage after the victory, along with her maternal grandparents, who traveled from Hyderabad, India, to watch her. As she held the trophy aloft, her brother, Sujan, pushed the corners of her mouth apart to broaden her smile.
Her father, Krishnarao, said Snigdha first showed an interest in spelling as early as age four. As she rode in the car, he would call out the words he saw on billboards and she would spell them.
In the run-up to the bee, Nandipanti studied 6 to 10 hours a day on weekdays and 10-12 hours on weekends - a regimen that she'll need to maintain to get through medical school, her father said.
"She says this is harder than being a neurosurgeon - maybe," said her mother, Madhavi.
Stuti Mishra of West Melbourne, Florida, finished second after misspelling "schwarmerei" - which means unbridled enthusiasm. Nandipanti and Mishra frequently high-fived each other after spelling correctly.
Nandipati's prize haul includes US$30,000 in cash, a trophy, a US$2,500 savings bond, a US$5,000 scholarship, US$2,600 in reference works and a language course.
The week began with 278 spellers, including the youngest in the history of the competition - six-year-old Lori Anne Madison of Lake Ridge, Virginia. She was just two misspelled words away from a semifinal berth.
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