Queen Bee 2009

Kavya Shivshankar from Olathe, Kansas won this year's Scripp's National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C yesterday. The word that won her the title was "Laodicean", which means "lukewarm or indifferent, particularly in matters of politics or religion". Unlike last year, I didn't watch the full telecast this time but what I saw was enough to once again be amazed by the talent and poise shown by all the kids as they took a crack at the difficult words thrown at them.

As always, the Finals was dominated by desis as they took up 7 of the 11 slots. One of the finalists was Ramya Auroprem, who actually goes to the high school that my Kavya will go to in just a few years. Ramya went up to the 11th round but then misspelled "amarevole" and ended up tying for fifth place.

As for eventual winner Kavya, she must be a firm believer in the old adage "Try, try till you succeed". This was her fourth appearance in the Spelling Bee and she finally won the trophy after finishing 10th, 8th and 4th places in her previous three appearances. She was composed throughout and had her own style, writing the words on her palm and smiling after each round.