Two Austin students head to Scripps National Spelling Bee

AUSTIN (KXAN) – On Tuesday, 231 children aged 9 to 14 will face off in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C, perhaps leading to many of us feeling ashamed of our over-reliance on spell-check. 

Two Austinites – Shrethan Botla,14,  and Tarini Nandakumar, 12 – will compete to be this year’s spelling champion. 

Bolta, who said this is his first and last entry into the national competition, said he feels both nervous and excited ahead of the trip.

“I'm feeling really happy because I've never been to an event, a big international level,” he told KXAN. 

Other spelling contestants beware if the word “onomatopoeia” is called as it is Bolta’s favorite. 

“It’s just a very unique and perplexing word overall,” Bolta said on why he finds the word compelling. 

“And words that kind of stumped me are probably words that just don't follow the language pattern. If they're of an unknown origin, it just makes it harder to spell [because] I can't follow any of the rules,” Bolta said.  

At the risk of ending my journalism degree, I admitted to Bolta that I failed to make it past the first round of my middle school’s spelling bee in 2004. For others who also may have areas of expertise in which they are stronger, Bolta shed a little light on his spelling strategy. 

“I usually just ask for all the information because it just helps me overall,” he explained. “They give a definition, part of speech, language of origin and stuff like that. And then, if I know the word, I usually just spell it after that. Or if I don't know the word, I just keep asking for information until I get to know the word, or I just guess,” he said. 

Over 230 spellers from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Department of Defense Schools in Europe, the Bahamas, Canada and Ghana will arrive in Washington D.C. for Monday’s opening ceremony. 

Spelling Bee preliminaries will take place Tuesday, then the quarter and semi-finals Wednesday and the 94th Scripps National Spelling Bee champion will accept their trophy following the finals on Friday.

Last year, Harini Logan, 14, from San Antonio was the spelling bee champion. Could another Texan out-spell the competition two years in a row?

 “It’s [going to be] really hard, but I’m hoping to go to the quarterfinals or semifinals,” Bolta said.