Labels

Sukanya Roy wins America's coveted spelling bee crown

WASHINGTON: Spelling tongue twister "cymotrichous", Greek for having wavy hair, Indian American Sukanya Roy has won the 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee crown to retain the coveted honour for the community for the fourth year in a row.
Sukanya Roy, 14, an eighth-grader at Abington Heights Middle School, Pennsylvania, said she knew as soon as she heard "cymotrichous" that she'd get the word right and win the championship Thursday night.
"My heart started pounding, I guess," she said. "I couldn't believe it. . It's just amazing. It's hard to put into words."
It was Roy's third trip to the national spelling bee, and she had credited her past experience with keeping her calm and relaxed heading into the finals. She tied for 12th place in 2009 and 20th place in 2010.
Roy speaks Bengali and every summer travels to India to visit family. She hopes to pursue a career in international relations.
Roy is the ninth Indian-American in the last 13 years, a run that began when Nupur Lala captured the crown in 1999 and was later featured in the documentary "Spellbound."
The winner will be awarded a $30,000 cash prize, a trophy, a $2,500 US savings bond, a complete reference library, a $5,000 scholarship and $2,600 in reference works and other prizes. Anamika Veeramani had scored a hat-trick for Indian-Americans in taking the crown last year.
Sukanya Roy was one of the six Indian Americans - Sriram Hathwar, Arvind Mahankali, Prakash Mishra, Mashad Arora, and Dhivya Senthil Murugan - who made it to the last 13 in the finals. The youngest finalist was 10-year-old Dhivya Murugan of Denver, who was born in India.
The spelling bee kids just keep getting better and better. Even words like chlorthalidone," "dreikanter," "renminbi" and "helichrysum" couldn't sufficiently narrow down the field in the semifinals, which needed 95 minutes of overtime earlier Thursday to whittle the competitors from 41 to 13.
The week began with 275 spellers. A written test Tuesday and two oral rounds Wednesday reduced the field for the semifinals.
According to the Scripps Spelling Bee's website, this year brought contenders ranging in age from 8 to 15 years old from all over the world.



CHAMPIONSHIP FINALISTS
Speller No. 214, Sukanya Roy, 1st place 
Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Age 14, 8th grade
School: Abington Heights Middle School
Hometown: South Abington Township, Pennsylvania

RESULTS:
Sukanya enjoys hiking, rock climbing and ice skating. She was selected to go to Panama this summer with her school’s ecology club to learn more about the rain forest. A pianist, Sukanya also plays violin in her school’s orchestra. She won first place in the individual portion of the Northeast Pennsylvania Chapter Mathcounts Competition. Last summer, she was selected to participate in Jeopardy! Kids Week at the regional level. Sukanya speaks Bengali, and every summer travels to India to visit family. She hopes to pursue a career in international relations. Sukanya participated in the 2009 and 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bees, tying for 12th place in 2009 and 20th place in 2010.




Round Correct Spelling Contestant's Spelling 
1 Round One Test
 2 croissant -  croissant 
3 execration  -  execration 
4 hesthogenous -  hesthogenous 
5 amphistylar -  amphistylar 
6 watteau -  watteau 
7 thalassocracy -  thalassocracy 
8 psephomancy -  psephomancy 
9 pyopoiesis -  pyopoiesis 
10 völkerwanderung -  völkerwanderung
 11 rapakivi -  rapakivi 
12 lakatoi -  lakatoi 
13 zwischenspiel -  zwischenspiel 
14 preux -  preux 
15 sangsue -  sangsue 
16 lekane -  lekane 
17 naumkeag -  naumkeag 
18 orgeat -  orgeat 
19 periscii -  periscii 
20 cymotrichous -  cymotrichous


Speller No. 157, Arvind Mahankali, 3rd place tie
Daily News, New York, New York
Age 11, 6th grade
School: Forest Hills Montessori School
Hometown: Forest Hills, New York
RESULTS :
Arvind’s favorite school subject is math, and he aspires to be a physicist like his role model, Albert Einstein. Outside of school, Arvind enjoys playing tennis and soccer, reading books and acting. He also enjoys Indian classical music and speaks Telugu. Not one to be shy, Arvind once delivered a monologue performance in front of an audience of 7,000. In 2009 he was a university talent search participant. Arvind tied for 9th place in the 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee. His cousin Sanjay Kottapali participated in the 2008 and 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bees.



Round Correct Spelling Contestant's Spelling 
1 Round One Test
 2 mélange -  mélange 
3 debacle -  debacle 
4 chresard -  chresard 
5 palynology -  palynology 
6 guttula -  guttula 
7 epigonism -  epigonism
 8 profiterole -  profiterole 
9 dactyliotheca -  dactyliotheca 
10 epipodiale -  epipodiale 
11 uayeb -  uayeb 
12 opodeldoc -  opodeldoc 
13 solferino -  solferino 
14 capoeira -  capoeira 
15 gazoz -  gazoz 
16 komatik -  komatik 
17 Jugendstil -  uguntschtiel


Speller No. 29, Dhivya Senthil Murugan, 6th place tie
The Denver Post, Denver, Colorado
Age 10, 5th grade
School: Challenge School
Hometown: Denver, Colorado
RESULTS :
Dhivya was born in India and speaks Tamil in her home. She is learning Spanish and has regular exposure to Hindi as well. Dhivya participates in her school chess club, math club and Destination Imagination program. In her free time, she enjoys volunteering at a retirement home, doing arts and crafts, drawing, swimming, roller skating and reading. She especially enjoys reading the Harry Potter series. Dhivya is currently taking piano, karate and Indian classical dance lessons.
Round Correct Spelling Contestant's Spelling
 1 Round One Test  
2 usufructuary -  usufructuary 
3 harridan -  harridan 
4 duchesse -  duchesse 
5 gagaku -  gagaku 
6 helichrysum -  helichrysum 
7 kagura -  kagura 
8 apolaustic -  apolaustic 
9 crevecoeur -  crevecoeur
10 ephelides -  aphelidies


Speller No. 152, Sriram Hathwar, 6th place tie
The Leader, Corning, New York
Age 11, 5th grade
School: Chemung Valley Montessori School
Hometown: Painted Post, New York
RESULTS 
Sriram enjoys playing oboe and has learned to play several Sanskrit hymns on piano. He spends much of his time participating in sports including skiing, ice-skating, swimming, baseball, basketball, tennis and Ping-Pong. He is an avid reader and especially enjoys the Harry Potter book series. Sriram’s favorite school subject is science and he hopes to become an ophthalmologist. He participated in the 2008 and 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bees.




Round Correct Spelling Contestant's Spelling
 1 Round One Test 
2 edacious -  edacious 
3 farthingale -  farthingale
 4 mnestic -  mnestic
 5 desmachyme -  desmachyme
 6 dégringolade - dégringolade
 7 farrago -  farrago
 8 exsufflation -  exsufflation 
 9 dasylirion -  dasylirion
 10 polatouche -  poletouche


Speller No. 237, Mashad Arora, 6th place tie
Valley Freedom Newspapers, Harlingen, Texas
Age 14, 8th grade
School: Resaca Middle School
Hometown: Brownsville, Texas
RESULTS :
A true competitor, Mashad participates in spelling, writing, math and poetry recitation competitions through the University Interscholastic League. He is also a member of his school’s robotics team. Mashad’s Science Bowl team placed fourth at the Rio Grande Valley Regional competition after building and racing a hydrogen fuel cell car. He enjoys playing badminton and piano and is a member of the school’s cross-country team. Mashad admires the art and architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright and his career aspirations include architecture, engineering, journalism or international relations. Mashad participated in the 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee.


Round Correct Spelling Contestant's Spelling 
1 Round One Test 
2 chanoyu -  chanoyu 
3 tortuosity -  tortuosity 
4 nystagmus -  nystagmus
5 chevalet -  chevalet 
6 entremets -  entremets 
7 melittologist -  melittologist 
8 teppanyaki -  teppanyaki 
9 psittacines -  psittacines 
10 samiel -  samyel


Speller No. 168, Prakash Mishra, 10th place tie
The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, North Carolina
Age 13, 8th grade
School: Marvin Ridge Middle School
Hometown: Waxhaw, North Carolina
RESULTS :
Prakash has written several novels and enjoys reading, especially works by Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe and T.S. Eliot. Prakash speaks five languages, including Hindi, French, German, Spanish and English. He is passionate about academics and especially enjoys learning about history, culture and religion. Prakash studies Tae Kwon Do, plays both piano and drums, and loves to play hacky sack. He is a Junior Beta Club member and the Mega Math Madness first place champion. Prakash participated in the 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee.




Round Correct Spelling Contestant's Spelling 
1 Round One Test 
2 hirsutism -  hirsutism 
3 impermeabilize -  impermeabilize 
4 turophile -  turophile 
5 baize -  baize 
6 empressement -  empressement
 7 phreatophyte -  phreatophyte 
8 seneschal -  seneschal 
9 susurrus -  sussurrus

No comments:

Post a Comment