There many Indian-Americans among 40 spellers moving on to the Finals of the Spelling Bee, which will be held on Thursday, June 1. The national spelling bee competition is organized by Scripps National Spelling Bee. Ashrita Gandhari, a Massachusetts fourth grader, is also one of the finalists.
Gandhari, 10, a 4th grader at Franklin Elementary School in North Andover, found an interest in reading books when she was four years old, according to Patch.com. Her favorite books are Hush, Lara’s Gift, The Mighty Miss Malone andCounting by 7s. Her favorite author is Jacqueline Woodson, who is the official poet laureate of the United States.
Being a voracious reader, spelling was second nature for Gandhari , who began her spelling bee journey as a kindergartner when she first participated in South Asian Spelling Bee. Outside of academics, she is part of her school’s writing program. Playing the piano is her passion, and she has been learning since she was six years old. She is also learning Bollywood dancing, according to Patch.
According to the Spelling Bee website, here is the list of 40 finalists who will participate in Thursday’s competition:
Speller 9, Melodie Loya, a New York sixth grader
Speller 25, Sohum Sukhatankar, a Texas fifth grader
Speller 27, Rohan Sachdev, a North Carolina eighth grader
Speller 36, Erin Howard, an Alabama sixth grader
Speller 37, Varad Mulay, a Michigan eighth grader
Speller 43, Helena Thompson, a North Carolina seventh grader
Speller 65, Samhita Kumar, a California sixth grader
Speller 75, Mira Dedhia, an Illinois eighth grader
Speller 99, Brendan Pawlicki, a Michigan fifth grader
Speller 109, Paul Hamrick, a California seventh grader
Speller 114, Shrindhi Gopal, a California eighth grader
Speller 128, Owen Kovalik, an Ohio eighth grader
Speller 136, Grant Taylor, a Texas eighth grader
Speller 143, Tejas Muthusamy, a Virginia eighth grader
Speller 163, Nikhil Lahiri, a New York eighth grader
Speller 167, Sreeniketh Vogoti, a Florida eighth grader
Speller 176, Maggie Sheridan, an Ohio seventh grader
Speller 180, Daniel Chen, a California eighth grader
Speller 187, Saketh Sundar, a Maryland sixth grader
Speller 189, Rutvik Gandhasri, a California eighth grader
Speller 191, Alice Liu, a Missouri fifth grader
Speller 200, Raksheet Kota, a Texas eighth grader
Speller 205, Siyona Mishra, a Florida eighth grader
Speller 207, Tara Singh, a Kentucky seventh grader
Speller 210, Naysa Modi, a Louisiana sixth grader
Speller 214, Ashrita Gandhari, a Massachusetts fourth grader
Speller 227, Enya Hubers, an Ontario sixth grader
Speller 235, Rohan Rajeev, an Oklahoma eighth grader
Speller 245, Jashun Paluru, an Indiana seventh grader
Speller 254, Shourav Dasari, a Texas eighth grader
Speller 259, Alex Iyer, a Texas eighth grader
Speller 264, Ananya Vinay, a California sixth grader
Speller 265, Catherine Chung, a South Korea seventh grader
Speller 276, Akshra Paimagam, a North Carolina eighth grader
Speller 278, Shruthika Padhy, a New Jersey sixth grader
Speller 280, Srikar Chamarthi, a Texas seventh grader
Speller 281, Thomas York, a Minnesota eighth grader
Speller 287, Nicholas Ivan, an Indiana eighth grader
Speller 288, Aisha Randhawa, a California sixth grader
Speller 291, Marlene Schaff, an Illinois eighth grader
