Spelling Bee champ’s next goal: college.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Perseverance pays off. That’s perhaps the biggest lesson offered by the victory of Indian American teenager Arvind Mahankali at the 89th National Spelling Bee, which concluded Thursday at the National Harbor, just outside the U.S capital.
The eighth grader from the Nathaniel Hawthorne Middle School 74 in Bayside, New York, topped 280 other elite spellers, who were picked from a pool of more than 11 million contestants, in an excruciating screening process that lasted several months.
This was Mahankali’s fourth trip to the Spelling Bee. In his first attempt in 2010, he finished ninth and the last two visits to the Bee resulted in agonizing third-place finishes.
No wonder, when he finally won it all, Mahankali looked more relieved than ecstatic.
“I actually didn’t realize I had won,” the 13 year-old said during an exclusive chat with The American Bazaar on Friday. “It took a few moments to really sink in.”
Born to parents from Andhra Pradhesh and raised largely in Bayside Hills, NY (he lived briefly in Atlanta), Mahankali is the sixth consecutive Indian American Spelling Bee champion. For the second successive year, Indian American spellers swept the top three positions.
Mahankali’s first trip to the Bee was in 2010, as a fifth grader at Forest Hills Montessori School in New York. For a debutant, he did rather well, finishing ninth that year. He spelled such words as “effleurage,” “metarteriole,” but bowed out after getting spelling of the word “presa” wrong.
The next year, he did better, finishing third. The word that felled him in 2011 was “Jugendstil.”
In 2012, Mahankali was a crowd favorite, but another word with a German root ended his run: “schwannoma”
This year, the last year of his eligibility, Mahankali was ready and prepared. In fact, he was so ready and prepared that even words with German roots, his nemesis in the past two years, could not stop him.
He even had some fun at their expense.
When a seemingly difficult word with a German root was thrown at him, Mahankali’s initial response was a There-you-go-again! gesture. But he did survive a German word this time around.
It was only fitting that the final word he spelt was one with a German root, “knaidel,” which is a type of Jewish dumpling traditionally eaten over Passover.
“I think the German curse has turned into a German blessing,” he would joke on stage later.
Outside of the world of words, Mahankali has other interests as well.
A university talent search participant, he once delivered a monologue performance before an audience of 7,000, according to a bio released during the 2011 competition.
The New York native and self-confessed sports buff also enjoys playing tennis with his nine year-old brother, Srinath. He is a big fan of current world No. 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic. The Spelling Bee champ also follows basketball, and likes to play the game whenever he gets a chance. In that his sport, his favorite player is Shaquille O’Neal.
Djokovic currently has seven Grand Slam titles to his name, while Shaq has four NBA championships under his belt. Needless to say, Mahankali has chosen his idols well.
So what’s next for the kid who wins the National Spelling Bee? “I plan on celebrating for a little bit,” he told The American Bazaar on Friday, “and then I’m going to focus my attention on college.”
With an attitude and work ethic like that, any college would be lucky to have Arvind Mahankali. The sky’s the limit for this speller’s future. (Global India Newswire/The American Bazaar)
To contact the author, email to : deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com