Abhiram is Georgia Spelling Bee Champion
Abhiram Kapaganty, a 5th grader from Burnette Elementary in Gwinnett County, won a hard-fought and suspenseful contest that ran unusually long—23 rounds—at the 56th Georgia State Spelling Bee on March 17, 2017 at GSU. He represents Georgia at the Scripps National Spelling Bee near Washington D.C., May 28 through June 3. Jahnvi Bhagat, 8th grader from Daniell Middle School in Cobb County, placed second and is the alternate. How many kids tried to get to this level? 650,000!
To win the Georgia title, Abhi spelled “schipperke” (a Belgian breed of dog) and then “wedel” (a skiing term pronounced with a “v” sound). He also gets $1,000, paid expenses to the national bee, an iPad mini, a $100 Amazon gift card, a Kindle, a Merriam-Webster dictionary, a one-year online subscription to Encyclopaedia Britannica, and a $100 U.S. Savings Bond.
His school is excited about his win; the school had allowed him to leave after lunch each day to study lists of words, using Hexco online, and his parents quizzed him. He likes spelling, saying it can help him in school later; he also does math and geography bees, and his strength is social studies. An avid reader and Harry Potter fan, he looks forward to keeping up with spelling bees until eighth grade, and then moving to quiz bowl competitions.
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