GMS student ties for second place at
National Spelling Bee
By Joe Pritchett
Clarion Editor
Glenwood Middle School 8th grade student Aishwarya Pastapur ended up in a tie for second place
at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, held last week in Washington, D.C.
Pastapur survived a field of 293 students from around the world that began the competition last
Tuesday. She was one of the final three left standing, missing the word "menhir." Kavya
Shivashankar of Kansas, whom Pastapur has known since her preschool days there, ended up
winning the competition, spelling "laodicean."
Pastapur spelled correctly words like "deipnosophist," "xebec," "tagliatelle," and "Caerphilly," to
name a few.
Thursday's semifinal and final rounds were broadcast on live television, with the finals in prime
time on ABC. This was Pastapur's third trip to the National Bee, where she had previously tied for
22nd in 2006.
For her efforts, Pastapur won $10,000 along with a set of books from Encyclopedia Brittanica.
"It was pretty amazing," Pastapur, 13, said. "I got to make lots of friends, and I'm sure they will be
life-long friends. It's amazing to just be around people like you who do the same stuff and have the
same hobbies."
And since the competition has been over, Pastapur added, "Random people approach me and say
'congrats' or 'you're that girl from the spelling bee.' I've been getting lots of phone calls and e-mails
from people I don't know congratulating me. And people from India saw it, they broadcasted it there,
and they've been calling. It's been amazing."
After a written test to start the competition, Pastapur correctly spelled "horrific," and "bodegon," to
advance to the semifinals, where she spelled "diluvium," "echinocystis," and "foudroyant," to advance
to the final round, where there were 11 spellers vying for the title.
In the finals, she spelled "deipnosophist," "tagliatelle," "goombay," "xebec," "Caerphilly," and
"wisent" to advance to the championship round of three. Pastapur said "Caerphilly" was her toughest
word, though she contemplated "xebec" for a long time before getting that word correct.
A list of 25 words was used for the championship round, and even if a speller missed a word he or
she could still get back into the competition if the others all missed too.
Pastapur got "antonomasia," and "guayabera," correct before missing "menhir," which she spelled
"mynheer."
"I thought that since it was the championship round, it would be a harder word," she explained. "I
spelled the homonym, which is a bit harder."
Pastapur said being at the National Bee for the third time helped her know what to expect, and she
described the time on stage in the final few rounds as "very nerve-wracking. And things moved very
fast.
"I sort of had to force myself not to have expectations," she continued. "Because just in case I got
out, I'd be very upset. My only goal was to make it through as many rounds as possible. And while I
was spelling, my goal would be to get the word right and get through that one round."
Pastapur and her parents, Eshwar and Bharati, along with sister Sharanya, who is five years old,
moved to the area two years ago from Kansas. Pastapur has attended Glenwood Middle School the
last two years, and plans to attend Glenwood High School her freshman year.
Pastapur has been accepted to the Illinois Math and Science Academy, a boarding school in the
Chicago area. She will begin classes there her sophomore year.
Eshwar Pastapur has served as Aishwarya's coach during her studying for the Spelling Bee. Since
winning the regional competition back in March, Aishwarya estimated that she spent two to three
hours per day studying, and five hours a day on the weekends, after all of her schoolwork was
completed.
Some word lists were provided by Scripps, and she said her and her dad went through the
dictionary a couple of times as well.
"Scripps provides a consolidated word list of about 24,000 words, but it doesn't mean the words
will come from that list," Eshwar Pastapur stated. "Kids master that list and move onto the dictionary,
where there are 470,000 words. You look for patterns and root words."
National Spelling Bee
By Joe Pritchett
Clarion Editor
Glenwood Middle School 8th grade student Aishwarya Pastapur ended up in a tie for second place
at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, held last week in Washington, D.C.
Pastapur survived a field of 293 students from around the world that began the competition last
Tuesday. She was one of the final three left standing, missing the word "menhir." Kavya
Shivashankar of Kansas, whom Pastapur has known since her preschool days there, ended up
winning the competition, spelling "laodicean."
Pastapur spelled correctly words like "deipnosophist," "xebec," "tagliatelle," and "Caerphilly," to
name a few.
Thursday's semifinal and final rounds were broadcast on live television, with the finals in prime
time on ABC. This was Pastapur's third trip to the National Bee, where she had previously tied for
22nd in 2006.
For her efforts, Pastapur won $10,000 along with a set of books from Encyclopedia Brittanica.
"It was pretty amazing," Pastapur, 13, said. "I got to make lots of friends, and I'm sure they will be
life-long friends. It's amazing to just be around people like you who do the same stuff and have the
same hobbies."
And since the competition has been over, Pastapur added, "Random people approach me and say
'congrats' or 'you're that girl from the spelling bee.' I've been getting lots of phone calls and e-mails
from people I don't know congratulating me. And people from India saw it, they broadcasted it there,
and they've been calling. It's been amazing."
After a written test to start the competition, Pastapur correctly spelled "horrific," and "bodegon," to
advance to the semifinals, where she spelled "diluvium," "echinocystis," and "foudroyant," to advance
to the final round, where there were 11 spellers vying for the title.
In the finals, she spelled "deipnosophist," "tagliatelle," "goombay," "xebec," "Caerphilly," and
"wisent" to advance to the championship round of three. Pastapur said "Caerphilly" was her toughest
word, though she contemplated "xebec" for a long time before getting that word correct.
A list of 25 words was used for the championship round, and even if a speller missed a word he or
she could still get back into the competition if the others all missed too.
Pastapur got "antonomasia," and "guayabera," correct before missing "menhir," which she spelled
"mynheer."
"I thought that since it was the championship round, it would be a harder word," she explained. "I
spelled the homonym, which is a bit harder."
Pastapur said being at the National Bee for the third time helped her know what to expect, and she
described the time on stage in the final few rounds as "very nerve-wracking. And things moved very
fast.
"I sort of had to force myself not to have expectations," she continued. "Because just in case I got
out, I'd be very upset. My only goal was to make it through as many rounds as possible. And while I
was spelling, my goal would be to get the word right and get through that one round."
Pastapur and her parents, Eshwar and Bharati, along with sister Sharanya, who is five years old,
moved to the area two years ago from Kansas. Pastapur has attended Glenwood Middle School the
last two years, and plans to attend Glenwood High School her freshman year.
Pastapur has been accepted to the Illinois Math and Science Academy, a boarding school in the
Chicago area. She will begin classes there her sophomore year.
Eshwar Pastapur has served as Aishwarya's coach during her studying for the Spelling Bee. Since
winning the regional competition back in March, Aishwarya estimated that she spent two to three
hours per day studying, and five hours a day on the weekends, after all of her schoolwork was
completed.
Some word lists were provided by Scripps, and she said her and her dad went through the
dictionary a couple of times as well.
"Scripps provides a consolidated word list of about 24,000 words, but it doesn't mean the words
will come from that list," Eshwar Pastapur stated. "Kids master that list and move onto the dictionary,
where there are 470,000 words. You look for patterns and root words."
Chatham Clarion
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Issue Date: June 4, 2009