Page 10 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
Community / U.S.A.
Dallas duel: Wild card turns
tables at National Spelling Bee
Portland Rose
Festival in pictures
Photos by Jan Landis
June 18, 2018
By Ben Nuckols
The Associated Press
O
Queen of Rosaria Kiara Johnson
Chinese Community of Greater Portland performers
Chinese Community of Greater Portland performers
Portland-Kaohsiung Sister City Association float
Shu-Te Home Economics & Commercial High School performers
Northwest Tibetan Cultural Association contingent
XON HILL, Md. — The end of the biggest Scripps
National Spelling Bee in history came abruptly,
and it wasn’t the conclusion that many expected.
Naysa Modi, a poised and charismatic four-time
participant whose long spelling career seemed to be
building toward triumph, sat next to a newcomer whom
she had already beaten this year — at the county level.
But 12-year-old Naysa blinked immediately, mixing up
the single and double “s” in the German-derived word
“Bewusstseinslage” — a state of consciousness or a feeling
devoid of sensory components — and 14-year-old Karthik
Nemmani seized an opportunity that he wouldn’t have
had before this year.
“I didn’t really think I’d be able to do it,” the soft-spoken
winner said. “I had confidence that I could do it, but I
honestly didn’t realistically think it could happen.”
Karthik’s victory put the spotlight back onto the story of
this bee — the new wild-card program that Scripps
launched to give a chance to spellers like him, who have to
compete against some of the nation’s best spellers at the
local level. The field was expanded to 515 spellers to
accommodate the wild cards — there had never been more
than 300 competitors previously — and four of the 16
prime-time finalists got in through the new program,
known as “RSVBee.”
When only three spellers remained, all were from the
Dallas area, which has long been a hotbed of spelling
talent.
Karthik is from McKinney, Texas — his family moved
there specifically so he could go to a school that takes part
in the Scripps program. Naysa is from Frisco, less than 15
miles to the west. And third-place finisher Abhijay Kodali
lives in Flower Mound, another 40 miles west.
Naysa knocked off Abhijay in the Dallas regional bee
after topping Karthik in their county bee. The region is
one of a few that sponsors two spellers for a trip to
nationals. The wild cards had to pay their own way — a
$750 entry fee plus the costs of travel to Washington and
lodging.
“I don’t care,” said Karthik’s father, Krishna Nemmani.
“I know his caliber.”
Like many top spellers, Karthik was a precocious
preschooler — he arranged block letters to spell “horse” at
age three and won his first spelling bee at four-and-a-half
years old, his dad said.
His winning word was “koinonia,” which means
Christian fellowship or communion. He knew that one. He
also knew the word Naysa missed. But he didn’t pretend
to be infallible, saying there were about eight or nine
WILD-CARD WIN. Karthik Nemmani, 14, from McKinney, Texas,
left, is given his trophy after winning the Scripps National Spelling Bee, by
president and CEO of the E.W. Scripps Company, Adam Symson, right, as
confetti falls in Oxon Hill, Maryland. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
words in the prime-time finals he didn’t know — a rare
admission for a champion.
“She’s a really, really good speller. She deserved the
trophy as much as I did,” Karthik said of Naysa. “I got
lucky.”
Karthik is the 14th consecutive Indian-American
champion, and 19 of the past 23 winners have had Indian
heritage. He takes home more than $42,000 in cash and
prizes.
His win was also a triumph for the burgeoning industry
of spelling coaches — high-schoolers who’ve aged out of
competition but share their wisdom with younger
competitors, for a steep fee. He thanked his coach,
16-year-old Grace Walters, who had her own star-crossed
history of never quite getting to the Scripps stage.
Karthik also used study materials compiled by two
well-regarded former Scripps spellers and fellow Texans,
Shobha Dasari and her younger brother, Shourav, who
finished fourth last year and won nearly every other bee
he competed in. Six of the 16 top finishers, including
Naysa, studied the Dasaris’ hand-picked lists of more
than 100,000 words.
“It definitely makes us feel great,” 17-year-old Shobha
said.
Naysa, who participates in taekwondo and performs
stand-up comedy, will have to regroup after a bitter defeat
and try again next year. She’ll be in eighth grade, which is
the final school year that spellers are eligible. She first
competed in the bee as a cherubic nine-year-old.
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