Spelling the Dream (2020) - full transcript
Chronicle of the ups and downs of four Indian-American students as they compete to realize their dream of winning the iconic tournament.
] Champion spellers,
we are now in uncharted territory.
We're throwing the dictionary at you
and so far you are showing this dictionary
who is boss.
We've now reached the start of round 20,
the round I informed you would be
the final one of this competition.
When we get to the end of round 20,
we will take an extraordinary step
of declaring as co-champions
those of you still remaining
in the competition.
You are correct!
You are correct!
You are correct!
You are correct.
You are correct.
Correct.
Correct.
You are correct.
It's complete.
You're all champions
of the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
They will forever
be remembered as the Elite 8,
the eight spellers
that for three and a half hours
took the best parts the dictionary had
to throw at them,
and this is the night
that the kids won the Spelling Bee.
And there you have it,
a picture that will be on the front page
of every newspaper and website.
Spelling bees are
a time-honored American tradition
and the Scripps National Spelling Bee
is the most prestigious contest
in the country.
South Asian-American kids
are dominating
the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
I think people are curious about, like,
do they have a secret?
Is there something that they’re
genetically predisposed to knowing?
The most phenomenal assemblage
of super spellers.
Meet the kids who exhausted
the dictionary itself.
The Octo-Champs, ladies and gentlemen!
What kind of a name is Erin?
Since 2008, a decade of dominance.
We rival the Yankees,
the Dallas Cowboys, Celtics, Lakers.
Indian-American kids in spelling,
like, we’re in that.
When we find something that works,
we go all in.
Something clearly is going on
that needs to be better understood.
...international society of people
with high IQs has two new members.
They're children!
Three-year-old Akash Vukoti
and five-year-old Amritha Vukoti
have been accepted
into the American MENSA.
Welcome to Little Big Shots!
You have never seen kids like the ones
who are coming out here today.
Cona-sewer.
No! Not "cona-sewer."
Okay, catch it up.
The kids getting the big buzz
at the Spelling Bee.
A six-year-old making history
as the first first-grader ever
in the competition.
Inviscate.
- Inviscate.
- That is correct.
Well, funny story.
First, my uncle... One of my uncles...
was feeding me something
like a type of rice thingy.
And then he showed a spoon,
told me to spell "spoon."
I said...
So the next day, the same uncle came to me
and said to spell "spoon" again.
I spelled...
That was not normal for, you know,
for a two... just two-years-old kid
to spell it back in the same sequence,
in the same order of the alphabet.
That was the first time
when we noticed that, oh, he...
He has something into the spellings.
That’s when my parents saw
that first interest.
First interest.
Hmm.
- Who are the Spelling Bee champion?
- I am!
I am the Spelling Bee champion.
-What's "L" for?
-Lion!
-What’s "lion" spelling?
-Lion? L-I-O-N. Lion!
I came from a rural village
in India.
If I didn’t dream high,
I wouldn’t be coming to America.
A kid who was born here in America
should do a lot more.
The goal for Akash would be
to be a good citizen.
So whatever he does, whatever he learns,
it should benefit the community,
the country, the world.
Something like, you know,
Microsoft, for example.
Or the Google, or the Facebook!
Should be something like that,
that should change the lives
of the people around the world.
We don’t know.... I mean,
if it happens, we’ll be really blessed.
One of the myths, I think,
that people have about Indian-Americans
and their success is that
it's somehow genetic or even ethnic.
So what happened in the United States?
The Indians who do well
in Spelling Bees in America
are drawn from Indians
who were very adventurous,
who decided to take advantage
of the relaxation
of American immigration rules in 1965.
This bill says
simply that from this day forth,
those wishing to immigrate to America
shall be admitted
on the basis of their skills
and their close relationships
to those already here.
This is a simple test,
and it is a fair test.
Those who can contribute
most to this country,
to its growth, to its strength,
to its spirit,
will be the first that are admitted
to this land.
That stopped the relatively racist quotas
on who could immigrate from where
in other parts of the world,
and it allowed for immigrants
to come in
from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean...
Parts of the world
that had been oftentimes cut off.
It wasn’t like every South Asian
was allowed in.
They picked people
who were the most educated,
who could add a very clear, like,
monetary value,
and serve a clear purpose
for America and its economy.
And Indians
take advantage of this,
but mostly, they are engineers, doctors.
One of the interesting things to notice
is how many Indian doctors you’ll find
in very remote parts of America.
And you see them in rural Alabama
or Mississippi or Louisiana,
and you ask yourself, "Why was there
an Indian doctor in one of these places?"
'Cause no white person wanted
to go to rural Alabama and be a doctor,
and those were the job openings
that the Indians filled.
Then in the '80s,
and really mushrooming in the '90s
and since then,
has been the growth of the IT industry.
There wasn’t conflict.
There wasn’t persecution or prosecution.
They weren’t fleeing. It was all
really revolved around possibility.
So I don’t think it’s this magical
Indian cultural superiority stuff
I hear all the time.
A portion of the story is culture,
but a large portion
is how people got here.
In addition to, like, you know,
India’s a colonized country.
English was around.
They come
to the United States.
They get trained or they go to companies.
They do well.
Now, they have children,
and they want to ensure
that their children
take advantage
of these extraordinary opportunities
that they see in America as immigrants.
My parents
came for opportunity.
There was a lot of emphasis
on language growing up inside the house,
and English was extremely stressed.
I think a lot of my interest in spelling
came because of that early exposure
to English through my mom
and somewhat my dad.
It took a solid four years for me
to get from start to finish
in my National Spelling Bee win pursuit,
and then eventually, in 1985,
I was able to win.
Milieu.
It was his third try
at the National Spelling Bee.
Third time’s the charm!
For him this year, no bell will bing.
I don’t think I recognized
the magnitude of that
probably until decades later.
And when I realized
how relevant it was
that the son of immigrants
had won the National Spelling Bee
was when I saw other immigrants,
primarily Indian parents,
um, say that it was 1985
that put the National Spelling Bee
on the map for Indians.
And so while I never pretended
that it was a big deal
other people informed me
that it was a big deal to them.
Playing tennis and spelling
are pretty similar
because it takes persistence,
because the first time you go to a match
or a spelling bee, you might not win.
Because the more you practice,
the better you get,
and then you can just get better
and better.
And then eventually, you just...
Everything will fall into place
and maybe you’ll win.
Well, I’ve been doing this for many years.
I started when I was in second grade,
and every year I’ve constantly improved,
so, like,
hopefully that this year will be the year.
We are originally from India.
India has lots of languages,
so I think that bilingual concept
helped them learn
a lot of other languages too.
There is an expectation that he’ll do well
and probably win.
Um, but also I think
he’s kind of used to the pressure,
and also it’s not like a random guess.
He has proven himself that he could win
the other competitions.
So that gives him the confidence.
I think
he doesn’t feel that pressure so much.
How good is he, really?
He's really good.
Um...
I mean, when I was...
When I was still in eighth grade,
I would say we were about equal,
but, like, since then, he’s kept on going.
I wanna say he is probably
the best speller in the world.
-He's like Michael Jordan.
-Obviously, Michael Jordan. Yeah.
Michael Jordan is just, like,
consistently the best player in,
like, in the league when he was playing,
and I think Shourav is, like, consistently
the best speller in the school,
and probably, like, in the state,
and, like, maybe,
probably even the nation.
We found a word
that Ashrita did not know!
S-U-P-E-R-C...
...you have all day!
-Oh!
-Woo!
By the time she was two, two and a half,
she was already good at solving puzzles,
and she was asking for more,
and she was able to recognize
some of the letters.
And by the time she was three,
she was able to read the smaller books,
the books with a few words
in each sentence.
So we did not think of it as a talent.
We thought it was a normal thing
-that all kids do...
-For all kids!
...and so we just continued filling her
with more and more,
whatever she was comfortable with.
Basically,
it started a really long time ago
when I was about five.
I was in an art competition,
'cause I was kind of into art
at that time,
and in the next room
they had a spelling bee.
Since I was really young,
they just let me in randomly.
They didn’t really think
I was gonna do any good or anything.
So they’re just like,
“Yeah, sure, you can do it.”
I go there, I take the tests,
and I come third
out of first-through-eighth graders.
And then my parents were just like...
"Something’s up."
My brother Bharat,
he’s very focused
and he has set very high goals
for himself.
So the same thing I observe in Ashrita.
Ashrita has a great influence
on the younger kids
and also on the people
way back in my hometown.
As Ashrita was getting through each year,
trying to get through Scripps,
people came to know that,
"Okay, this is what is happening."
During the competitions,
we make sure
that we are calling her every day,
because it’s not very easy
to spell on the stage
where millions of people are watching her.
Whatever may be the result,
we always love her and encourage her.
The first time I thought
"I want to win the Scripps Bee"
was in fourth grade,
because I’d lost the county bee that year,
placing second.
And then I contemplated my reasons
for continuing
because I was obviously crushed,
and then that same year
I watched the National Spelling Bee,
and I saw Arvind win.
And I really wanted to be
in that spotlight
and I wanted to hoist that trophy
over my head,
and so that’s where it started.
I was so happy
that there is a chance that exists
to entertain this kid
in an area that he’s interested in.
At the same time, instill the habits
which will actually come and live
with him for later in his life.
The benefit of hard work,
the work ethic and all that stuff.
So I was really, really happy.
When it comes to Tejas,
the inherent nature that,
you know, that being curious
to a different subject,
be it medicine, to dance, to...
You call it, the different ones,
he’s curious.
His curiosity is what comes to my mind,
which is very unique to him.
It really makes... makes us all proud.
And especially, I feel proud, and that’s
where it gives an inspiration to my kid.
He looks upon to him as my brother,
and he takes a lot of inspiration
from him.
So someone, like, you know,
when you see someone on the TV,
especially the big platform like YouTube,
or be on a, like, you know, the ESPN.
My son, he loves to watch
for hours and hours,
and naturally I see that the longer
he watches those videos,
he’s getting more inspired by him.
...L, elegiacal.
Yes.
Scripps Howard is proud to introduce
the 1988 National Spelling Bee champion
from the Sacramento Bee,
Rageshree Bhag Ramachandran.
I think those who didn't have someone
to look up to...
we can legitimately call trailblazers.
As I recall,
I think it was 1983.
We have a picture at home.
There are six of us.
All six of us accounted
for the entire Indian contingent
in the 1983 National Spelling Bee.
That was it. Just six out of 137, I think.
In the Scripps Spelling Bee
in the early '90s,
I recall seeing
a few Indian-American students,
certainly South Asian-American students.
It wasn’t something that felt, like,
normal that there was a ton.
At the time, I think,
my eight or nine-year-old brother
was the first time I realized
just potentially how big
spelling bees were within this community.
He was eight years old!
And he was talking about it
in these reverential terms
that made me believe that this was
something that he was really motivated by.
It all changed in 1994, when ESPN
first began broadcasting the Bee,
because all of a sudden,
not only could you read about it
in your newspaper,
but you could just easily
watch it on television.
Definitely a much bigger buzz
for us. It was really cool.
I mean, I was a huge basketball fan
by that time.
You know, I was wearing,
like, a Bulls cap at one of the picnics,
and they would ask me, like,
"Who's your favorite players?"
I was like,
“Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan."
I’m a sports guy,
I like sports,
and I remember watching it on ESPN.
And I thought,
"They’re showing a spelling bee on ESPN."
I mean, Indian kids have arrived,
finally, you know,
with regard to sports because, you know,
sports was not an area
where they were excelling as much.
But spelling was on ESPN, so, hey,
it’s pretty much the same thing, right?
I remember at that point, I thought
to myself, "Something’s happening here."
Before! First of all!
First things first, next things next,
and without further ado,
I’m going to go ahead.
And the definition is...
Um, it’s a lung disease.
That’s why it’s…
"sis", "o-sis"ending.
Uh..
Which is caused by inhaling ash,
sand, dust…
...etcetera.
Okay, the word is 45 letters, okay?
So don’t be surprised on this.
Anyways, so...
Excuse me for the moment.
Ready, set, spell!
Yeah, I think the word just filled up
the entire screen.
Akash Vukoti,
I think, burst onto the scene
as being this phenomenon.
He’s so young, and yet
he’s so poised and so competent,
and so gifted at spelling in a way
that kids who are six,
I’ve never seen a child spell.
It’s fun to get all the attention.
I’m not really jealous of him.
I’m just glad that he has
all that media attention.
He kind of keeps me in it too,
which doesn’t make me feel left out,
and if I’m not left out, that doesn’t
really make me feel jealous.
So, last year, Akash was
Cereno Spelling Bee champion.
...T-L-Y, circumspectly.
We have a new champ!
How do I win
the Scripps National Spelling Bee?
The way to win the Bee is simply…
90 percent hard work!
Ten percent…
other.
So this is our database of words.
The dictionary has about 475,000 words,
and what we realized
is we can condense that 475,000 words
into about 125,000 words
by simply removing the extensions.
So, for example, if you know "sleep,"
"sleeping" is not required.
So if you know these base words,
you can construct any
of the remaining words in the dictionary.
I know probably, like,
98 to 99 percent.
That's how much accuracy you need.
We haven’t seen a word
which came outside this dictionary
for the last four years.
If someone really masters this database,
there is a very high probability
that they can win any competition,
including the Scripps Spelling Bee.
Tiercé.
T-I-E-R-C-E-E.
-The language of origin is French.
-Yeah.
- So does that change your ending?
- No.
- What did you say again?
- T-I-E-R-C-E-E.
No, it’s T-I-E-R-C-E,
with that accent on top.
My expectations for Tejas is, like,
win the trophy
because he has put in a lot of hard work.
It’s been six years' penance for him.
So he has been putting in a lot of hours,
like, putting in a lot of energy into it.
He’s putting a lot of his emotions
and feel into it.
You can’t be a champion
just by putting an hour a day.
Whether it’s in sports or in spelling,
you have to put in the effort.
And what you see time and time again
is people who have,
more or less,
devoted their whole lives to spelling
become Spelling Bee champions,
and I think that really is a testament
to the benefits of hard work.
This is the gateway
to get into Scripps National Spelling Bee.
I'm feeling excited and nervous
at the same time.
Tejas has won
this regional competition thrice.
Oh my gosh, I’m always a nervous wreck.
Always, always.
I'm confident in his ability,
but spelling bees,
it’s the luck of the draw.
One word can do it and hopefully
he’ll have good words today and do well.
Welcome to the 43rd Annual Richmond
Times-Dispatch Regional Spelling Bee.
Thank you for joining us today.
Judges, are we ready?
M-A-N...
T-E-A. "Mantea."
Mattock.
Yes, yes. Phew!
All right,
this is the start of round 11.
Campodeiform.
...I-U-F-O-R-M.
Alma mater.
Yes, yes.
Okay, you'll now
have to spell one additional word.
Florilegium.
Florilegium. Definition, please?
"A volume or collection of brief extracts
or writings; an anthology."
Florilegium.
Are there any alternate pronunciations?
There are not.
Florilegium.
Okay, we have our champion!
One more trip.
Wow, congratulations
to all of our spellers.
They’re all champions.
I’m really happy
that I managed to pull it off,
and I’m really excited
that I get to go back
to the National Spelling Bee
for my last year,
and I’m just ready
to work really hard for it.
I don’t really enjoy attention
that much.
Whenever people compliment me,
I take the compliment,
and I thank them but within me,
I kind of say, "I don’t deserve it,"
because I haven’t gotten
the ultimate trophy yet.
Logorrhea. May I have a sentence, please?
"The patient’s logorrhea
was indicative
of deep emotional problems."
I had grown up in North Carolina...
and had moved to Florida...
and I’d never been in settings
where I didn’t feel distinctly different.
For having my name,
for looking the way I did,
rather unusual to be somebody
who went home and did her homework
instead of hanging out after school.
Where I was really inspired
was seeing a list of the kids
who were finalists in 1997,
and seeing at that point that
it was a majority of Indian spellers.
And so, as an Indian student,
this felt like an arena
in which I could compete
and be successful.
C-O-R-O-L-L-A-R-Y.
In the 1999
Scripps National Finals,
there were four kids of Indian origin.
And so,
seeing so many Indian spellers at Scripps
gave me a sense of comfort
and a sense of belonging,
and also it was the first time in my life
that I didn’t feel
extremely different.
Logorrhea, L-O-G-O-R-R-H-E-A.
That is correct.
Once Nupur Lala won
the 1999 Scripps National Spelling Bee,
and it was broadcast
via the film Spellbound,
it really raised awareness
to the entire community
about this being a niche
in which Indian-American kids can excel.
Have you seen the movie Spellbound?
Oh my God, every...
Every time she has a major spelling bee
or anything like that,
we have, yeah.
These are...
I think we watch it, like, very often.
All the time.
There’s three tips I have
for other spellers.
One, trust in Jesus.
Trust and believe in Jesus.
Two, honoring your parents.
And three, hard work.
I love that.
Like, he is so like, "I spell.
I’m dominant in it.
My parents, all about it.
Respect your parents, trust Jesus."
He trusted Jesus
all the way to first place.
You have won the...
Success seemed attainable,
it seemed achievable,
because you had watched
other Indian-Americans do it.
And I think that often when you have
something like that in a community
where people can imagine the success,
it’s tangible, it’s not abstract,
they go for it and they work hard for it.
And so the success has then bred success
and led to even greater success.
E...
-Correct.
-Indian-American students
have two other bees
that are specifically designed for them
to foster the competition
that they have amongst themselves
and to get better at spelling
in front of a group,
and to collaborate with their peers
on how to study,
and for the parents to get together
and talk about what’s working
and what’s not working.
When I heard they were doing them,
I was like, “Of course.”
This is how it’s done
in the Indian-American community.
Let’s raise the stakes
and let’s see what happens!
I think only when
this minor league circuit
of the South Asian Spelling Bee
and the North South Foundation
Spelling Bee,
which has been in effect
for over 20 years, I believe,
that you really see these kids
hone their craft
to a level that you didn’t otherwise see
before that.
A lot of the families
approach these bees
as practice rounds, if you will,
for the big Scripps Spelling Bee.
Two. No feet.
All right. Five, six...
So no feet. Five, six, seven, and one...
Run in. Good. Around.
And here it comes, three more.
Results are important,
but we have to ignore the results
and concentrate on the process.
Enjoy the process,
the results will come on their own.
I’m telling Ashrita
whatever is the outcome,
we don’t have so many expectations
or anything. It’s fine with us.
You just, like, do your best.
We want her to be relaxed,
as relaxed as she can.
Ashrita, like, when she’s relaxed,
-she can spell very tough words.
-She does better.
She does better.
So, basically what we do
is my mom or dad makes a list of words,
and then I just go over them,
and they just keep quizzing me
until I get all of them right.
Mornay.
What’s the definition?
"A cheese-flavored cream sauce."
M-O-R-N-A-Y.
Yeah, good. Good job.
We mostly keep this as a secret, but...
It’s only we are sharing this
database because this is our last year,
and so far we have kept this
as a family trade secret,
and that gives Shourav
a competitive advantage,
the way he prepares.
So, yeah, we haven’t shared
with anybody else so far.
As always, I’m kind of nervous
because it’s my last year,
so there’s really no room for error.
But I’m also pretty confident
that I’ll do pretty good,
so we’ll just see how it goes.
The biggest spelling event
in Texas starts right now.
Welcome to the 2017
Houston Public Media Spelling Bee.
We’re here today with 56 finalists.
At the end of our Bee,
only two will be going
to the Scripps National Spelling Bee
in Washington, D.C.,
where they’ll compete to find out
who is our nation’s top speller.
The word is "capsule."
Capsule. May I have the definition?
The word is "gloaming."
That is correct.
That is correct.
That's correct.
Wow, what a difficult Bee
we have been fighting so far.
If my count is right,
we’re down to just four spellers.
The word is "gamapetalous."
A-L...
...O-U-S. Gamapetalous
That is correct.
That's correct.
That's correct. That's correct.
That's correct. Correct.
The word is "bardiglio."
The word
is "zwitterion."
I-O...
...N. "Switterion."
The word is
"promyshlennik."
Promyshlennik. Can I have the definition?
Can I have the language of origin?
Can I have the sentence?
Wait, can I start over?
-Can you repeat the word one more time?
-Promyshlennik.
That is correct.
Nicely done.
Shourav, don’t go anywhere.
He has spelled the word correctly
in his round.
There’s nobody else in his round
to compete against,
so he goes on to a championship word.
If he gets this correct,
then he’s our champion.
If not, the Bee continues.
Here we go.
The word is "rafraichissoir."
I guess he was
pretty proud of that spelling!
I just won the Houston Public Media
Regional Spelling Bee
and I’m feeling pretty good about it.
I just knew it off the top of my head
and I...
I’m just like, why not just
get it over with right then and there,
so I just spelled it, like,
in two seconds flat.
We expected him to win,
and he won in that sense, uh...
-It's a good turnout.
-Yeah, it’s... It’s the expected outcome.
I’m just really happy
and really proud, I guess,
just to be going back
and representing Houston again.
I was talking with a past champion,
and of course I asked her
the most obvious question,
“Why do you think so many Indians
win the Bees?”
And she said, for her,
one of the key reasons is that languages
is something that her family and herself
just know so much about.
Her parents were fluent in five languages,
and while that’s a lot,
being multilingual is commonplace.
And the familiarity of language,
the ability to communicate so fluently
across multiple languages,
helps the kids in their minds grasp words,
grasp spelling, grasp languages,
nuances, its etymologies,
and that helps them achieve in the Bee.
Uh-ah, e-i, u-oo, ru-roo, ei-ay, ai.
Akash can fluently read-write
three languages.
Mother tongue, English.
Mother’s mother tongue, Telugu.
And then Hindi,
which is India’s national language.
-So he’s fluent in three languages. Yeah.
-Yeah, he can read and write.
And he is really looking
into learn other languages,
like, you know,
German or Hebrew or Korean.
To be a winner, you probably need
to master 60 to 100 thousand words.
You also need to understand patterns
from different languages.
You need to study old Bees,
and one of the things
we haven’t talked about
is you’ve got to be able to stand on stage
and think on your feet
and present these words
without getting distracted
or getting flustered,
and think through what the word means,
and you’ve got a limited time clock
to do this. It’s a huge amount of work.
Most of these students spend
one to two hours a day, all week,
every week,
and then more on the weekends,
and they do this for years
leading up to the National Bee.
Some of these students start on this
as young as three and four years old
in some of these families.
These kids have put more time
into spelling by the time they’re 13
than most of us put into anything
our entire lives.
The popular misconception
of these families
is that they are "tiger parents,"
who are drilling their kids,
forcing them to study against their will.
How else can you explain
why so many Indian children
are excelling
in this one particular niche?
To be honest, when children are young,
parents do typically enroll their kids
in a spelling bee
or some other academic competition,
the same way
that parents enroll their children
into basketball or swimming
without asking their kids' permission,
hoping that their kids will like it
and get good at something.
But the kids don’t stick with it
unless they like it,
and the parents don’t force their kids
to become spellers
unless the kids find
some internal drive for it.
The Spelling Bee
was something I wanted to do.
I didn’t get intense pressure
from home to do it.
In fact, after losing out in 1984
in the National Spelling Bee,
my parents said,
“Do you really want to do this again?”
I thought about it and I said,
“Yes, I do want to pursue it again.”
This is a metaphor for
something else, a metaphor for success,
it’s a metaphor for
"I have achieved something
and received recognition
within my own community,"
and the motivations would be the same
as anything else in life.
Mmm! Let’s begin round one
of the Vukoti Spelling Bee. Let's go.
Number one.
When you watch the Bee,
the first thing you think of is
it’s a family affair
throughout the whole process.
Accommodate.
A-C-C-O-M-M-O-D-A-T-E.
- Accommodate.
- Good job.
When a parent devotes a lot of time
to coaching a student
through a spelling competition,
the siblings are there.
They’re listening to it, learning it,
picking it up,
and there’s usually
some competition among the siblings.
Their parents have already figured out
by the time you get to the second sibling
how to help that speller
learn and practice
in a much more refined
and efficient way.
When the older one won the district
spelling bee, the younger one,
who’s three years younger than him,
wrote down every word correctly
in the district bee
that everybody got. So, you know, he’s...
He’s in second grade.
I got into it in second grade,
and that was
when Shobha was in fourth grade,
so we had just really started that year
'cause, like,
that was the year that Shobha won
her first school spelling bee,
so then my parents just started
helping her from there.
Initially, we thought
he would be a good pronouncer,
because some of the words we were not able
to pronounce the way Shobha wanted.
So we recruited him
as a pronouncer to Shobha,
and then he realized that,
"Oh, I can just not be the pronouncer,
I can be the best speller too
and I can beat my sister too."
So I think that’s how it started,
and after that he took off.
We were really competitive
with each other,
but it was kind of like a balance.
Like, we’d be really competitive at a bee
and we wouldn’t talk to each other,
that kind of thing.
Or I would talk to him,
but he wouldn’t talk to me.
And then, once we got home,
it was fine though.
We’d sit in the game room
and play video games and, like...
that kind of thing.
I don’t think there was a moment
where he, like,
questioned why he was doing it.
He just knew he wanted to win,
and so he, like... he just went for it,
and I really admire that about him.
I’ve been doing it for such a long time,
and it’s something that I really enjoy.
And to be the best at it, that would be,
like, a really surreal experience.
Now, I’ll research more things about this.
I just like going to Wikipedia and reading
about stuff 'cause I like reading.
I can connect it to spelling in a way,
because hali-ya, blah-blah-blah,
which is a scientific name
for a bald eagle.
It actually comes from the Greek,
hali meaning "sea," aetos meaning "eagle,"
leuko meaning "white,"
and suphlos meaning "head."
And they all squish it together.
So I just want to do
further research into that.
If I see a new word, like in school,
maybe...
Maybe one day, my teacher uses
the word "finagle,"
I’m like, “What does finagle mean?”
I look it up.
And maybe, in the word "finagle,’"
I see the word "persifleur,’"
then maybe I’ll research that.
And then maybe in that entry,
I find a different word.
And in that entry,
I find a different word.
And I research all of them,
and then that’s how I expand my vocab.
Hmm...
Hmm, hmm...
Akash, are you excited
for tomorrow?
Yeah! I’m really excited!
But I’m also kind of nervous
at the same time.
I want you to go through one more time
all the etymology things, okay?
-Yep.
-You got the necessary words in this list.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, should we do it?
Long "iya" and a plural noun,
spelled "ae,"
as in algae, larvae...
Wait, larvae?
Antennae.
So you know all these words' spellings,
right?
- Mm-hmm.
- Yes or no?
- So can I go to next page?
- Go ahead.
- Cirrhosis. You wrote--
-Cirrhosis.
Mm-hmm.
- C-I...
- Mm-hmm.
...R-R-H-O-S-I-S.
-Cirrhosis.
-Good job!
If at all Akash continues his interest
in the spellings
in the same way
like what he has now,
we expect him to win
the National Spelling Bee title,
like, in three to four years,
by sixth grade.
If he can become the national champion,
he’ll be blessed
and all of us would be blessed.
Contestants,
if you will please rise.
We’re going to say
the Pledge of Allegiance
before we get started.
I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America.
We all set? Let’s roll.
Stucco.
Is... Are there any other
alternate pronunciations, please?
May I have the language of origin, please?
May I have the definition, please?
May I have the sentence, please?
"Akash spent weeks
finishing a large collage
of a Paris street scene."
C-O...
...T-O-R-I-A. Trattoria.
And then there were four. The final four.
This word has a homonym.
The word is "boarders."
It is a noun,
and it’s "people
who are provided with regular meals
or regular meals and lodging."
May I have the alternate pronunciations,
please?
There are none.
May I have the language of origin, please?
This word consists
of two originally English parts.
Can you please repeat the word again?
Boarders.
D-E...
R-S. "Borders."
Okay.
Good luck to all my fellow spellers.
I hope I’ll come back next year.
He's still young
and he has a lot of years,
so he might learn some new words.
I’ve heard of that word before,
but I’ve heard it many times
when I was older.
'Cause when I was his age,
I had no idea what that word is.
Akash, you're in second grade.
Yeah, you've got
so many more chances to go.
That's okay.
"The question over there was
who would be going to Washington, D.C.,
representing our region.
That was the only question over there.
You may or may not be
the regional champion,
but you’re already the school champion,
and, you know, on the way to prepare
for this Spelling Bee,
you improved your knowledge.
That’s the purpose
of why the Scripps National Spelling Bee
is there,
and we are on the way.
One day, you may
get the National Spelling Bee trophy."
So that’s what we said.
He understood it.
You can see a smile on his face now.
That was only for, you know, a brief time,
and, you know, that’s very...
quite natural for a kid.
If it isn't obvious yet,
I love the Spelling Bee.
Or as I like to call it,
the Indian Super Bowl.
Six winners in a row! Six in a row, son!
That’s incredible!
So it gives me great pleasure
to finally say,
“Hey, white people, learn the language.”
Writing that piece, I got to put together
all the reasons I loved it.
Like, here was something
that we were dominant in...
that had never been seen before.
And it's spelling!
But, of course,
the internet would not let me
enjoy this completely.
One patriot tweeted,
“America has to step it up
with our spelling game.
Last three remaining,
all of Indian decent.”
First of all, these kids of Indian descent
are also American.
- Woo!
- Secondly, you spelled "descent" wrong!
The kid who won that year
was Arvind Mahankali, who was from Queens.
It was a big deal to me,
both as a Queens resident
and as an Indian-American.
These kids are amazing, and they know it!
I mean, look how cool Arvind is
winning the title.
That is so G! That is so G!
Little homie didn’t even care that he won!
He looks like he’s still waiting
for the next word!
And I’m like,
"Why can’t we celebrate that?
Why can’t we celebrate the fact
that this kid did something
and he did it in such a cool way?"
He reached the mountain top
of that particular sport.
So, yeah, I wanted to celebrate that.
Luckily, I got to do that
in a very ridiculous way.
For those of us who
are not in the Bees, what we see online,
the racist or xenophobic comments
critiquing Indians who win,
it's very disparaging
and it’s very disheartening.
And we worry about the families
and, of course, about the kids themselves.
When you have
an activity that's so explicitly branded
as a quintessentially American contest,
the idea of who gets to be named
as an American
and who is considered
a legitimate champion in that arena
is really coded still by whiteness,
and there’s a real emphasis on America
ultimately remaining a white country.
I dread the day when
"somebody else" wins the Spelling Bee,
because it'll make me sad,
the kind of commentary
that comes out of that.
And it’s the kind of commentary
about taking something back that…
It is endemic to so much
of our national debate right now
in such a misguided way.
For years, our representation
was dictated by other people.
We were forced to play
convenience store owners
or we were forced to play cab drivers.
Like, there was a limited range
of representation.
Like, film and TV, you know, especially
when you’re such a small minority,
affect how the whole country
or the whole world views you.
And these kids, like, they earn
their way on television by succeeding.
Only in New York City could a child
of Indian immigrants,
who speaks Spanish and Telugu,
compete for a trophy
named for a British-American
newspaper publisher,
and win the competition for spelling
a Yiddish word.
I’ve actually been kvelling all day.
Do you know how to spell "kvelling"?
Yeah, I figured.
...A-N-E-E-R. Sloganeer.
That's correct. We have a champion!
...O-U-S.
Fatuous.
Correct!
...K-A.
Zubrowka.
There you go!
This is my lucky purple rock.
His fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Gribben,
she has given him that rock.
We keep it in here
just to keep it really safe
because when I’m spelling,
I don’t feel as confident
when I’m not carrying this rock.
So I always ensure
that it’s safe and sound.
They’re treated like diamonds
at my household where...
Especially during Bee season.
I know I might not really show it,
but I’m just like…
I can’t describe it in words.
I’m that excited!
A few years ago,
when I was in first grade,
all I did was win my school
and I participated in the regionals.
Now, I’m actually going to the Scripps.
I mean, that feeling is just great for me.
We have been waiting for this
for the past two years.
Now it finally came true.
Oh, we heard so many exciting things
about the Bee Week.
Ah, we’re really excited
to go and be there!
Like, you know,
my kid is going to be there on the ESPN,
so I can’t just like, yeah…
My goal? I’m studying really hard
to be at least in the top 50,
but I’m not expecting to do better
than that because I...
I just really want to be in the top 50.
That’s all I want to do this year.
Scripps National Spelling Bee
is in ten days,
so Shourav is almost done
with the reviewing.
Now, these ten days,
he will go through the dictionary words
one more time.
It’s kind of surreal, I guess,
because, like, I’ve been doing it
for so long, it’s just like...
You've only... I only have ten more days
and then I’m done with it, so…
It’s just kind of, like,
just do all you can because...
Well, in ten days, you’ll be done with it,
so you don’t have to worry
about it anymore.
I just have, like, a few words
here and there that I don’t know,
so I think I’m pretty confident
that whatever happens
then I’ll just be happy with it.
So these are diacritical marks,
and that’s how, like,
the pronouncers at Bees read the words
off the list that they have.
That’s how I also read the words
for the database.
I just see the diacriticals
and I can read it like a second language,
and then I type it.
Usually, if it’s a word that I’m, like,
100 percent confident about,
I can, like... While I’m typing it,
I can just look at the next word,
so that’s how I can go so fast.
After, like, years of doing it,
it just kind of becomes second nature.
So, I’m about to just type and see
how many words I can type in a minute
if I just go as fast as I can, so…
So, three, two, one.
Yeah, so that’s…
I just finished the one minute
and I did 45 words in that minute.
Saying it out loud takes, like,
probably five to ten seconds.
Typing a word takes, like, two seconds...
two to three seconds.
So it’s just... It just goes faster
for the same effect,
so I think typing is, like,
the better way.
We have, like, a root word document,
and I study 100 root words
and I take a two-minute break,
and then I study another 100,
take a two-minute break.
But I’m just trying to study
as much as I can without cramming.
She has studied well.
She has worked hard for the whole year.
All she can do is do her best
and I’m sure she’ll do her best.
My plan is just to study
for confidence,
so I can go on stage thinking,
"Okay, I’ve studied all the words I can.
Now, it’s just up to the word I get
and up to my stage performance."
It’s not exactly religious,
but we follow a scripture
called Bhagavad Gita, where it says,
"Do your duty. There are so many things
out of your control,
and don’t focus on the results."
And that’s something
we have always been telling Tejas,
not just for Spelling Bee, for his life.
I mean, for his studies,
for his academics, for his job,
and I think he’ll be looking forward
to find his new adventure
and move on to his new interests.
I’m pretty relaxed,
I’d have to say,
but there’s always, like,
a bit of nerves involved.
But I think I’ve been here, like,
four times before, five including now,
so I think I’m pretty familiar
with everything.
So I think I’m just relaxed
and just ready to go.
I think Shourav has
a winning chance of about 90 percent.
We are going with the hope
that he will be the champion,
but if there is any
one or two percent chance
of not getting the championship,
that is fine because it is another year.
We are now ready
to begin round two
of the 2017 Scripps National Spelling Bee
presented by Kindle.
Speller number one, Naomi Zarin,
you may approach the microphone.
- Hi, Naomi.
- Hi.
Your word is "politeia."
Can I have the definition?
Your word is "embezzlement."
Can I have the language of origin?
Ah!
Lambdacism?
Lamdacism.
Lambdacism.
Savoyard, or savo-yard,
or savoy-ar,
or savoy-yard.
Could you please repeat the word?
Filipendulous.
Correct.
Correct.
Correct.
Correct.
Correct.
Correct.
Correct.
That's correct.
Correct.
Correct.
- Correct.
- Repudiate.
Could you please sing it in a song?
You don't want to hear that.
Correct.
Correct.
Correct.
Look, Dr. Bailly, you really need
to come through for me right now, okay?
Correct.
That concludes round three
and the preliminaries
of the 2017 Scripps National Spelling Bee
presented by Kindle.
Here are your 2017
Scripps National Spelling Bee finalists.
From Huntsville, Alabama,
speller 36, Erin Howard.
From North Andover, Massachusetts,
speller number 214, Ashrita Gandhahari.
From St. Johns, Florida,
speller number 167, Sreeniketh Vogoti.
A face you’ve seen before from Glen Allen,
Virginia, number 143, Tejas Muthusamy.
From Bainbridge, New York,
speller number nine, Melodie Loya.
From Spring, Texas, number 254,
Shourav Dasari.
I know they’re excited
at Fugman Elementary
in Fresno, California,
for speller number 264, Ananya Vinay.
And our final finalist
for 2017,
from Edmond, Oklahoma, number 235,
Rohan Rajeev.
Once again, everyone,
all of these young spellers
are our 2017 Scripps
National Spelling Bee finalists.
Congratulations, you guys. Great job!
That standing ovation is for you.
The one thing
you notice about Thursday morning
is the level of difficulty,
completely different
from what we witnessed on Wednesday.
- Hi, Melodie.
- Hi.
Should we do this?
No.
Purlieu, or per-lew.
Correct.
Are there any alternate pronunciations?
Chryselephantine.
T-I...
That is correct.
- Correct.
- Thank you.
- Hi.
- Hi, Ashrita.
- Elidible.
- Elidible?
Elidible.
Could I have the definition?
"Capable of being passed over
or suppressed."
Could I have
the language of origin?
It’s made up of originally Latin parts.
- Elidible?
- Elidible.
Elidible.
Elidible.
I-L-L-I-D-A-B-L-E.
"Illidable."
-Elidible is spelled E-L-I-D-I-B-L-E.
-Thank you.
Okay, so I misspelled
a word up there.
I feel like I really overcomplicated it.
I didn’t really get really sad over it
'cause I have, like, four more years.
I did really good, I did my best,
and I don’t really mind, so...
We are extremely proud
of my daughter’s achievements.
She made it so far. We are definitely
going to come back next year.
For the first-timer,
for a fourth-grader, tying for 40th spot
is more than what we expected her
to do this year,
so she did an awesome job.
The competition
is not so much
about this kid on stage versus this kid.
It’s this kid versus a dictionary
of a half a million words.
At that point, I wanna go up there
and give them a high five and be like,
"Yeah, you kicked butt here to get here."
People worry about competition.
They don’t wanna keep score
in anything intellectual in the U.S.
Oh, we keep score in sports
but nothing intellectual.
Here, we can keep score intellectually
and realize
that it doesn’t put down somebody
just because one person wins.
It’s a celebration of learning.
Artiad.
That is correct.
R-U-C-E-T-T-E.
-Warison.
-Warison. Can I have the spelling, please?
You almost got me.
I don’t know if I can ask this,
but does this contain the French word
boudin meaning sausage?
- Yes.
- Okay.
Correct.
Corriedale. Kari-dale.
May I please have the definition?
"A member of a breed of rather large,
usually hornless sheep
developed in New Zealand
from several different breeds."
C-O...
R-E-Y...
D-A-L-E.
Coreydale?
Aw.
Corriedale
is spelled C-O-R-R-I-E-D-A-L-E.
Virement.
Correct.
That's correct.
Correct.
Yes!
-That is correct.
-Yes!
-Correct.
-Thank you.
-Correct.
-Thank you.
Correct. Correct.
Correct. Correct. Correct.
-Correct.
-Thank you.
That concludes round seven.
Spellers, you're going to be
on ESPN tonight.
Congratulations, spellers.
I’m really excited
since it’s something
that I’ve been
working hard for for a long time.
I just finally get to be a part
of the night finals on ESPN.
I’m gonna brag to my friends.
I’m gonna be on ESPN,
I don’t need to be an athlete or anything.
What I loved about Shourav
is that there was...
there was flavor to the whole thing.
And there’s nothing wrong
with having that type of flavor.
I mean, when you’re wearing
the lucky Nike hoodie
that’s carried you
through this whole thing.
He’s on stage
and halfway through the word,
he starts to have that little smile,
like he knew.
He knew it was a big event
and he was confident!
It also separated him from other people
because each time up, you’re like,
"All right, where’s the guy?
Where’s the guy in the hoodie?
Where is Shourav?”
And I think that was a cool element
to have in the program.
It worked well.
I definitely got words that I knew
or was able to derive.
In each round,
there’s probably one or two words
that I didn’t recognize at first
that other people got,
and so I would consider myself
pretty lucky.
I’m just going to look over
a couple of words
just to get my mind in the zone and...
Relax, maybe meditate a little bit.
I’m not sure if I’ll have time for that,
but definitely relax
and soak in the experience
because I know next year
I’m not going to be able to have it,
no matter what happens.
And then we get to the final 15
and you can’t ignore
what we’re looking at:
thirteen Indian-Americans.
We now begin round eight,
the prime time finals,
and to start things off,
the 1980 Bee champion Dr. Jacques Bailly
is our pronouncer,
his 15th year in this role.
Let’s start the spelling.
Xanthochroism.
Xanthochroism. Language of origin?
This word is made up of parts
that went from Greek to Latin,
plus an English combining form.
Does this contain
the Greek root xantho
-meaning yellow?
-Yes.
Does this contain the Greek root chro
-meaning color?
-Yes.
That is correct.
I’ll try my best.
That is correct.
Correct.
That is correct.
Oh, dang it.
Savate is spelled S-A-V-A-T-E.
- That is correct.
- Okay.
That is correct.
That is correct.
Correct.
That is correct.
Saussurite.
Could you repeat the word, please?
Saussurite.
Saussurite. Definition, please?
"A mineral consisting of a tough,
compact substance
that is white, greenish or grayish,
and is produced in part at least
by alteration of feldspar."
- Could you repeat the word again?
- Saussurite.
So there are no alternate pronunciations?
Just the one. Saussurite.
Saussurite.
Saussurite.
S-A-U-C...
E-R-I-T-E. "Saucerite."
Saussurite is spelled
S-A-U-S-S-U-R-I-T-E.
Thank you.
Did you know it?
I don't know.
I thought it was like cup and saucer.
You did very well.
I'm very proud of you.
Whatever happened, I'm very proud of you.
You'll always be my champion.
Mogollon.
Correct.
Then you’re watching Shourav
and you see this extreme confidence
on the stage.
At that point, you feel like
he has all the makings,
and the one thing that stood out
was how quickly he got that one word,
within five seconds,
but everybody in the room felt like,
"That’s the guy."
Ubaid.
Can I have the definition?
"Of or relating
to an early Bronze Age culture
in Mesopotamia prior to 3000 BCE."
Can you repeat the word again?
Ubaid. Ub-ayd.
Can I have the language of origin?
It’s from
an Iraqi geographical name.
Can you use it in a sentence?
Can you repeat the pronunciations again?
Ubaid. Ub-ayd.
That is correct.
Spiegeleisen.
That is correct.
That is correct.
Correct.
That is correct.
Struldbrug.
Str... Can you repeat the word again?
Struldbrug.
Can I have the definition?
"One of a class of imaginary persons
who can never die,
but who are declared dead in law
at the age of 80
and live on wretchedly at state expense."
Are there any alternate pronunciations?
There’s struldbrug and strul-brug.
Can I have the language of origin?
It’s from an English
literary name. Struldbrug. Strul-brug.
Can you repeat the word again?
Struldbrug.
Or strul-brug.
Struldbrug.
S-T-R-O-L-D...
B-R-U-G. "Stroldbrug."
Struldbrug is spelled
S-T-R-U-L-D-B-R-U-G.
It comes down to two,
two students that were unflappable.
Ananya on one side, the sixth grader.
And then Rohan, the 14-year-old,
who’s never been here before.
First time on this stage in this setting.
And you couldn’t tell!
They were both locked in.
That is correct.
That is correct.
That is correct.
That is correct.
That is correct.
That is correct.
That is correct.
That is correct.
That's correct.
That is correct.
That is correct.
That is correct.
Marram is spelled
M-A-R-R-A-M.
Gifblaar.
Definition, please.
"Gifblaar is
a perennial shrub of southern Africa
that is deadly poisonous to livestock."
Language of origin?
Afrikaans.
Are there any alternate pronunciations?
Just the one.
That is correct.
Ananya,
if you spell this next word correctly,
we will declare you the 2017
Scripps National Spelling Bee champion.
Marocain.
Marocain.
May I have the definition, please?
"A dress fabric that is made
with a warp of silk or rayon
and a filling of other yarns,
and is similar to
but heavier than canton crepe."
Part of speech?
- Noun.
- Language of origin?
It’s from a French word
from an African geographical name.
Are there any alternate pronunciations?
There are not.
Can you please repeat the word?
Marocain.
-That is correct.
-Congratulations, Ananya!
You are the champion!
Ananya,
this is yours.
Congratulations, you're the 2017 champion
of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
The trend of Indian-American success
in the Bee is long-running,
and I think it’s going to continue
in that direction
for the unforeseeable future.
Congratulations, Karthik.
You are the 2018 Scripps
National Spelling Bee Champion!
The most phenomenal assemblage
of super-spellers
in the history
of this storied competition.
It’s never gonna be all Indian.
We have plenty of other students
who are competing,
but they are highly successful,
they are having fun with it,
and they are winning.
I don’t see it changing anytime soon.
The only way Indian-American kids
are losing the Spelling Bee
is if they switch to Spanish next year.
And then it’s still, like, 50/50.
I think that this is in part a reflection
of this particular time in our history,
and some of the values
that have been instilled, I think,
by Indian immigrants on their kids.
The relentless and, I think, you know,
for the most part, constructive focus
on education for these kids,
and the fact that spelling in particular
ended up fulfilling all these aspirations
of these parents for their kids.
As generations go on,
you may see less of a focus
on things like Spelling Bees
and hopefully more of a focus
on other areas as well.
Things that may not necessarily
be purely academic,
but other areas where kids
are interested in and want to excel.
So I think you’ll see
a sort of more broadening out
of particularly Indian-American kids’
interests.
The Spelling Bee
playing every year on television,
I think it certainly inspires lots
of South Asian kids, Indian-American kids
to take up spelling as a thing.
But it’s also getting
a bunch of other kids into it too
that aren’t South Asian.
Tiger Woods, most of his heroes in golf
would’ve been white, right?
Like, for the most part?
Like, considering what the sport is?
Yet that inspired him to achieve,
so who’s to say that there isn’t some,
like, kid in the middle of America,
who’s, like, brown or black or Latino,
isn’t a huge Arvind Mahankali-head.
That’s, like, the dude
he looked up to when he was a kid,
and now wants to win.
But the truth is, I think, what
these kids show more than anything else
is American assimilation at work.
Here are kids who really come
from a very different world and culture
in their historical and cultural origins,
and they are taking part
in the most American tradition,
doing well at it, playing by the rules.
If that’s not American assimilation
at work, I don’t know what is.
We are part of this DNA,
this melting pot, uh, cliché.
And it’s not a cliché, we are part of it.
And to have ownership of one thing,
in the sense of that we can
dominate something, it’s pretty cool,
considering there’s just one percent
of the population of Indian-Americans.
So to me, when I say that,
I say that as a joke, like,
"Yes! We own this!"
Because it’s a small thing,
but it means so much
to so many people in our community.
It just was the perfect storm.
And I think Spelling Bees,
I mean, that became the Olympics
for so many Indians.
Humuhumunukunukuapua'a.
I just need to say it slowly.
You got it.
Humu humu, you just say "humu humu,"
and then you say "nuku nuku,"
and then you say "apua ah,"
and then you finish the whole thing.
Say it.
we are now in uncharted territory.
We're throwing the dictionary at you
and so far you are showing this dictionary
who is boss.
We've now reached the start of round 20,
the round I informed you would be
the final one of this competition.
When we get to the end of round 20,
we will take an extraordinary step
of declaring as co-champions
those of you still remaining
in the competition.
You are correct!
You are correct!
You are correct!
You are correct.
You are correct.
Correct.
Correct.
You are correct.
It's complete.
You're all champions
of the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
They will forever
be remembered as the Elite 8,
the eight spellers
that for three and a half hours
took the best parts the dictionary had
to throw at them,
and this is the night
that the kids won the Spelling Bee.
And there you have it,
a picture that will be on the front page
of every newspaper and website.
Spelling bees are
a time-honored American tradition
and the Scripps National Spelling Bee
is the most prestigious contest
in the country.
South Asian-American kids
are dominating
the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
I think people are curious about, like,
do they have a secret?
Is there something that they’re
genetically predisposed to knowing?
The most phenomenal assemblage
of super spellers.
Meet the kids who exhausted
the dictionary itself.
The Octo-Champs, ladies and gentlemen!
What kind of a name is Erin?
Since 2008, a decade of dominance.
We rival the Yankees,
the Dallas Cowboys, Celtics, Lakers.
Indian-American kids in spelling,
like, we’re in that.
When we find something that works,
we go all in.
Something clearly is going on
that needs to be better understood.
...international society of people
with high IQs has two new members.
They're children!
Three-year-old Akash Vukoti
and five-year-old Amritha Vukoti
have been accepted
into the American MENSA.
Welcome to Little Big Shots!
You have never seen kids like the ones
who are coming out here today.
Cona-sewer.
No! Not "cona-sewer."
Okay, catch it up.
The kids getting the big buzz
at the Spelling Bee.
A six-year-old making history
as the first first-grader ever
in the competition.
Inviscate.
- Inviscate.
- That is correct.
Well, funny story.
First, my uncle... One of my uncles...
was feeding me something
like a type of rice thingy.
And then he showed a spoon,
told me to spell "spoon."
I said...
So the next day, the same uncle came to me
and said to spell "spoon" again.
I spelled...
That was not normal for, you know,
for a two... just two-years-old kid
to spell it back in the same sequence,
in the same order of the alphabet.
That was the first time
when we noticed that, oh, he...
He has something into the spellings.
That’s when my parents saw
that first interest.
First interest.
Hmm.
- Who are the Spelling Bee champion?
- I am!
I am the Spelling Bee champion.
-What's "L" for?
-Lion!
-What’s "lion" spelling?
-Lion? L-I-O-N. Lion!
I came from a rural village
in India.
If I didn’t dream high,
I wouldn’t be coming to America.
A kid who was born here in America
should do a lot more.
The goal for Akash would be
to be a good citizen.
So whatever he does, whatever he learns,
it should benefit the community,
the country, the world.
Something like, you know,
Microsoft, for example.
Or the Google, or the Facebook!
Should be something like that,
that should change the lives
of the people around the world.
We don’t know.... I mean,
if it happens, we’ll be really blessed.
One of the myths, I think,
that people have about Indian-Americans
and their success is that
it's somehow genetic or even ethnic.
So what happened in the United States?
The Indians who do well
in Spelling Bees in America
are drawn from Indians
who were very adventurous,
who decided to take advantage
of the relaxation
of American immigration rules in 1965.
This bill says
simply that from this day forth,
those wishing to immigrate to America
shall be admitted
on the basis of their skills
and their close relationships
to those already here.
This is a simple test,
and it is a fair test.
Those who can contribute
most to this country,
to its growth, to its strength,
to its spirit,
will be the first that are admitted
to this land.
That stopped the relatively racist quotas
on who could immigrate from where
in other parts of the world,
and it allowed for immigrants
to come in
from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean...
Parts of the world
that had been oftentimes cut off.
It wasn’t like every South Asian
was allowed in.
They picked people
who were the most educated,
who could add a very clear, like,
monetary value,
and serve a clear purpose
for America and its economy.
And Indians
take advantage of this,
but mostly, they are engineers, doctors.
One of the interesting things to notice
is how many Indian doctors you’ll find
in very remote parts of America.
And you see them in rural Alabama
or Mississippi or Louisiana,
and you ask yourself, "Why was there
an Indian doctor in one of these places?"
'Cause no white person wanted
to go to rural Alabama and be a doctor,
and those were the job openings
that the Indians filled.
Then in the '80s,
and really mushrooming in the '90s
and since then,
has been the growth of the IT industry.
There wasn’t conflict.
There wasn’t persecution or prosecution.
They weren’t fleeing. It was all
really revolved around possibility.
So I don’t think it’s this magical
Indian cultural superiority stuff
I hear all the time.
A portion of the story is culture,
but a large portion
is how people got here.
In addition to, like, you know,
India’s a colonized country.
English was around.
They come
to the United States.
They get trained or they go to companies.
They do well.
Now, they have children,
and they want to ensure
that their children
take advantage
of these extraordinary opportunities
that they see in America as immigrants.
My parents
came for opportunity.
There was a lot of emphasis
on language growing up inside the house,
and English was extremely stressed.
I think a lot of my interest in spelling
came because of that early exposure
to English through my mom
and somewhat my dad.
It took a solid four years for me
to get from start to finish
in my National Spelling Bee win pursuit,
and then eventually, in 1985,
I was able to win.
Milieu.
It was his third try
at the National Spelling Bee.
Third time’s the charm!
For him this year, no bell will bing.
I don’t think I recognized
the magnitude of that
probably until decades later.
And when I realized
how relevant it was
that the son of immigrants
had won the National Spelling Bee
was when I saw other immigrants,
primarily Indian parents,
um, say that it was 1985
that put the National Spelling Bee
on the map for Indians.
And so while I never pretended
that it was a big deal
other people informed me
that it was a big deal to them.
Playing tennis and spelling
are pretty similar
because it takes persistence,
because the first time you go to a match
or a spelling bee, you might not win.
Because the more you practice,
the better you get,
and then you can just get better
and better.
And then eventually, you just...
Everything will fall into place
and maybe you’ll win.
Well, I’ve been doing this for many years.
I started when I was in second grade,
and every year I’ve constantly improved,
so, like,
hopefully that this year will be the year.
We are originally from India.
India has lots of languages,
so I think that bilingual concept
helped them learn
a lot of other languages too.
There is an expectation that he’ll do well
and probably win.
Um, but also I think
he’s kind of used to the pressure,
and also it’s not like a random guess.
He has proven himself that he could win
the other competitions.
So that gives him the confidence.
I think
he doesn’t feel that pressure so much.
How good is he, really?
He's really good.
Um...
I mean, when I was...
When I was still in eighth grade,
I would say we were about equal,
but, like, since then, he’s kept on going.
I wanna say he is probably
the best speller in the world.
-He's like Michael Jordan.
-Obviously, Michael Jordan. Yeah.
Michael Jordan is just, like,
consistently the best player in,
like, in the league when he was playing,
and I think Shourav is, like, consistently
the best speller in the school,
and probably, like, in the state,
and, like, maybe,
probably even the nation.
We found a word
that Ashrita did not know!
S-U-P-E-R-C...
...you have all day!
-Oh!
-Woo!
By the time she was two, two and a half,
she was already good at solving puzzles,
and she was asking for more,
and she was able to recognize
some of the letters.
And by the time she was three,
she was able to read the smaller books,
the books with a few words
in each sentence.
So we did not think of it as a talent.
We thought it was a normal thing
-that all kids do...
-For all kids!
...and so we just continued filling her
with more and more,
whatever she was comfortable with.
Basically,
it started a really long time ago
when I was about five.
I was in an art competition,
'cause I was kind of into art
at that time,
and in the next room
they had a spelling bee.
Since I was really young,
they just let me in randomly.
They didn’t really think
I was gonna do any good or anything.
So they’re just like,
“Yeah, sure, you can do it.”
I go there, I take the tests,
and I come third
out of first-through-eighth graders.
And then my parents were just like...
"Something’s up."
My brother Bharat,
he’s very focused
and he has set very high goals
for himself.
So the same thing I observe in Ashrita.
Ashrita has a great influence
on the younger kids
and also on the people
way back in my hometown.
As Ashrita was getting through each year,
trying to get through Scripps,
people came to know that,
"Okay, this is what is happening."
During the competitions,
we make sure
that we are calling her every day,
because it’s not very easy
to spell on the stage
where millions of people are watching her.
Whatever may be the result,
we always love her and encourage her.
The first time I thought
"I want to win the Scripps Bee"
was in fourth grade,
because I’d lost the county bee that year,
placing second.
And then I contemplated my reasons
for continuing
because I was obviously crushed,
and then that same year
I watched the National Spelling Bee,
and I saw Arvind win.
And I really wanted to be
in that spotlight
and I wanted to hoist that trophy
over my head,
and so that’s where it started.
I was so happy
that there is a chance that exists
to entertain this kid
in an area that he’s interested in.
At the same time, instill the habits
which will actually come and live
with him for later in his life.
The benefit of hard work,
the work ethic and all that stuff.
So I was really, really happy.
When it comes to Tejas,
the inherent nature that,
you know, that being curious
to a different subject,
be it medicine, to dance, to...
You call it, the different ones,
he’s curious.
His curiosity is what comes to my mind,
which is very unique to him.
It really makes... makes us all proud.
And especially, I feel proud, and that’s
where it gives an inspiration to my kid.
He looks upon to him as my brother,
and he takes a lot of inspiration
from him.
So someone, like, you know,
when you see someone on the TV,
especially the big platform like YouTube,
or be on a, like, you know, the ESPN.
My son, he loves to watch
for hours and hours,
and naturally I see that the longer
he watches those videos,
he’s getting more inspired by him.
...L, elegiacal.
Yes.
Scripps Howard is proud to introduce
the 1988 National Spelling Bee champion
from the Sacramento Bee,
Rageshree Bhag Ramachandran.
I think those who didn't have someone
to look up to...
we can legitimately call trailblazers.
As I recall,
I think it was 1983.
We have a picture at home.
There are six of us.
All six of us accounted
for the entire Indian contingent
in the 1983 National Spelling Bee.
That was it. Just six out of 137, I think.
In the Scripps Spelling Bee
in the early '90s,
I recall seeing
a few Indian-American students,
certainly South Asian-American students.
It wasn’t something that felt, like,
normal that there was a ton.
At the time, I think,
my eight or nine-year-old brother
was the first time I realized
just potentially how big
spelling bees were within this community.
He was eight years old!
And he was talking about it
in these reverential terms
that made me believe that this was
something that he was really motivated by.
It all changed in 1994, when ESPN
first began broadcasting the Bee,
because all of a sudden,
not only could you read about it
in your newspaper,
but you could just easily
watch it on television.
Definitely a much bigger buzz
for us. It was really cool.
I mean, I was a huge basketball fan
by that time.
You know, I was wearing,
like, a Bulls cap at one of the picnics,
and they would ask me, like,
"Who's your favorite players?"
I was like,
“Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan."
I’m a sports guy,
I like sports,
and I remember watching it on ESPN.
And I thought,
"They’re showing a spelling bee on ESPN."
I mean, Indian kids have arrived,
finally, you know,
with regard to sports because, you know,
sports was not an area
where they were excelling as much.
But spelling was on ESPN, so, hey,
it’s pretty much the same thing, right?
I remember at that point, I thought
to myself, "Something’s happening here."
Before! First of all!
First things first, next things next,
and without further ado,
I’m going to go ahead.
And the definition is...
Um, it’s a lung disease.
That’s why it’s…
"sis", "o-sis"ending.
Uh..
Which is caused by inhaling ash,
sand, dust…
...etcetera.
Okay, the word is 45 letters, okay?
So don’t be surprised on this.
Anyways, so...
Excuse me for the moment.
Ready, set, spell!
Yeah, I think the word just filled up
the entire screen.
Akash Vukoti,
I think, burst onto the scene
as being this phenomenon.
He’s so young, and yet
he’s so poised and so competent,
and so gifted at spelling in a way
that kids who are six,
I’ve never seen a child spell.
It’s fun to get all the attention.
I’m not really jealous of him.
I’m just glad that he has
all that media attention.
He kind of keeps me in it too,
which doesn’t make me feel left out,
and if I’m not left out, that doesn’t
really make me feel jealous.
So, last year, Akash was
Cereno Spelling Bee champion.
...T-L-Y, circumspectly.
We have a new champ!
How do I win
the Scripps National Spelling Bee?
The way to win the Bee is simply…
90 percent hard work!
Ten percent…
other.
So this is our database of words.
The dictionary has about 475,000 words,
and what we realized
is we can condense that 475,000 words
into about 125,000 words
by simply removing the extensions.
So, for example, if you know "sleep,"
"sleeping" is not required.
So if you know these base words,
you can construct any
of the remaining words in the dictionary.
I know probably, like,
98 to 99 percent.
That's how much accuracy you need.
We haven’t seen a word
which came outside this dictionary
for the last four years.
If someone really masters this database,
there is a very high probability
that they can win any competition,
including the Scripps Spelling Bee.
Tiercé.
T-I-E-R-C-E-E.
-The language of origin is French.
-Yeah.
- So does that change your ending?
- No.
- What did you say again?
- T-I-E-R-C-E-E.
No, it’s T-I-E-R-C-E,
with that accent on top.
My expectations for Tejas is, like,
win the trophy
because he has put in a lot of hard work.
It’s been six years' penance for him.
So he has been putting in a lot of hours,
like, putting in a lot of energy into it.
He’s putting a lot of his emotions
and feel into it.
You can’t be a champion
just by putting an hour a day.
Whether it’s in sports or in spelling,
you have to put in the effort.
And what you see time and time again
is people who have,
more or less,
devoted their whole lives to spelling
become Spelling Bee champions,
and I think that really is a testament
to the benefits of hard work.
This is the gateway
to get into Scripps National Spelling Bee.
I'm feeling excited and nervous
at the same time.
Tejas has won
this regional competition thrice.
Oh my gosh, I’m always a nervous wreck.
Always, always.
I'm confident in his ability,
but spelling bees,
it’s the luck of the draw.
One word can do it and hopefully
he’ll have good words today and do well.
Welcome to the 43rd Annual Richmond
Times-Dispatch Regional Spelling Bee.
Thank you for joining us today.
Judges, are we ready?
M-A-N...
T-E-A. "Mantea."
Mattock.
Yes, yes. Phew!
All right,
this is the start of round 11.
Campodeiform.
...I-U-F-O-R-M.
Alma mater.
Yes, yes.
Okay, you'll now
have to spell one additional word.
Florilegium.
Florilegium. Definition, please?
"A volume or collection of brief extracts
or writings; an anthology."
Florilegium.
Are there any alternate pronunciations?
There are not.
Florilegium.
Okay, we have our champion!
One more trip.
Wow, congratulations
to all of our spellers.
They’re all champions.
I’m really happy
that I managed to pull it off,
and I’m really excited
that I get to go back
to the National Spelling Bee
for my last year,
and I’m just ready
to work really hard for it.
I don’t really enjoy attention
that much.
Whenever people compliment me,
I take the compliment,
and I thank them but within me,
I kind of say, "I don’t deserve it,"
because I haven’t gotten
the ultimate trophy yet.
Logorrhea. May I have a sentence, please?
"The patient’s logorrhea
was indicative
of deep emotional problems."
I had grown up in North Carolina...
and had moved to Florida...
and I’d never been in settings
where I didn’t feel distinctly different.
For having my name,
for looking the way I did,
rather unusual to be somebody
who went home and did her homework
instead of hanging out after school.
Where I was really inspired
was seeing a list of the kids
who were finalists in 1997,
and seeing at that point that
it was a majority of Indian spellers.
And so, as an Indian student,
this felt like an arena
in which I could compete
and be successful.
C-O-R-O-L-L-A-R-Y.
In the 1999
Scripps National Finals,
there were four kids of Indian origin.
And so,
seeing so many Indian spellers at Scripps
gave me a sense of comfort
and a sense of belonging,
and also it was the first time in my life
that I didn’t feel
extremely different.
Logorrhea, L-O-G-O-R-R-H-E-A.
That is correct.
Once Nupur Lala won
the 1999 Scripps National Spelling Bee,
and it was broadcast
via the film Spellbound,
it really raised awareness
to the entire community
about this being a niche
in which Indian-American kids can excel.
Have you seen the movie Spellbound?
Oh my God, every...
Every time she has a major spelling bee
or anything like that,
we have, yeah.
These are...
I think we watch it, like, very often.
All the time.
There’s three tips I have
for other spellers.
One, trust in Jesus.
Trust and believe in Jesus.
Two, honoring your parents.
And three, hard work.
I love that.
Like, he is so like, "I spell.
I’m dominant in it.
My parents, all about it.
Respect your parents, trust Jesus."
He trusted Jesus
all the way to first place.
You have won the...
Success seemed attainable,
it seemed achievable,
because you had watched
other Indian-Americans do it.
And I think that often when you have
something like that in a community
where people can imagine the success,
it’s tangible, it’s not abstract,
they go for it and they work hard for it.
And so the success has then bred success
and led to even greater success.
E...
-Correct.
-Indian-American students
have two other bees
that are specifically designed for them
to foster the competition
that they have amongst themselves
and to get better at spelling
in front of a group,
and to collaborate with their peers
on how to study,
and for the parents to get together
and talk about what’s working
and what’s not working.
When I heard they were doing them,
I was like, “Of course.”
This is how it’s done
in the Indian-American community.
Let’s raise the stakes
and let’s see what happens!
I think only when
this minor league circuit
of the South Asian Spelling Bee
and the North South Foundation
Spelling Bee,
which has been in effect
for over 20 years, I believe,
that you really see these kids
hone their craft
to a level that you didn’t otherwise see
before that.
A lot of the families
approach these bees
as practice rounds, if you will,
for the big Scripps Spelling Bee.
Two. No feet.
All right. Five, six...
So no feet. Five, six, seven, and one...
Run in. Good. Around.
And here it comes, three more.
Results are important,
but we have to ignore the results
and concentrate on the process.
Enjoy the process,
the results will come on their own.
I’m telling Ashrita
whatever is the outcome,
we don’t have so many expectations
or anything. It’s fine with us.
You just, like, do your best.
We want her to be relaxed,
as relaxed as she can.
Ashrita, like, when she’s relaxed,
-she can spell very tough words.
-She does better.
She does better.
So, basically what we do
is my mom or dad makes a list of words,
and then I just go over them,
and they just keep quizzing me
until I get all of them right.
Mornay.
What’s the definition?
"A cheese-flavored cream sauce."
M-O-R-N-A-Y.
Yeah, good. Good job.
We mostly keep this as a secret, but...
It’s only we are sharing this
database because this is our last year,
and so far we have kept this
as a family trade secret,
and that gives Shourav
a competitive advantage,
the way he prepares.
So, yeah, we haven’t shared
with anybody else so far.
As always, I’m kind of nervous
because it’s my last year,
so there’s really no room for error.
But I’m also pretty confident
that I’ll do pretty good,
so we’ll just see how it goes.
The biggest spelling event
in Texas starts right now.
Welcome to the 2017
Houston Public Media Spelling Bee.
We’re here today with 56 finalists.
At the end of our Bee,
only two will be going
to the Scripps National Spelling Bee
in Washington, D.C.,
where they’ll compete to find out
who is our nation’s top speller.
The word is "capsule."
Capsule. May I have the definition?
The word is "gloaming."
That is correct.
That is correct.
That's correct.
Wow, what a difficult Bee
we have been fighting so far.
If my count is right,
we’re down to just four spellers.
The word is "gamapetalous."
A-L...
...O-U-S. Gamapetalous
That is correct.
That's correct.
That's correct. That's correct.
That's correct. Correct.
The word is "bardiglio."
The word
is "zwitterion."
I-O...
...N. "Switterion."
The word is
"promyshlennik."
Promyshlennik. Can I have the definition?
Can I have the language of origin?
Can I have the sentence?
Wait, can I start over?
-Can you repeat the word one more time?
-Promyshlennik.
That is correct.
Nicely done.
Shourav, don’t go anywhere.
He has spelled the word correctly
in his round.
There’s nobody else in his round
to compete against,
so he goes on to a championship word.
If he gets this correct,
then he’s our champion.
If not, the Bee continues.
Here we go.
The word is "rafraichissoir."
I guess he was
pretty proud of that spelling!
I just won the Houston Public Media
Regional Spelling Bee
and I’m feeling pretty good about it.
I just knew it off the top of my head
and I...
I’m just like, why not just
get it over with right then and there,
so I just spelled it, like,
in two seconds flat.
We expected him to win,
and he won in that sense, uh...
-It's a good turnout.
-Yeah, it’s... It’s the expected outcome.
I’m just really happy
and really proud, I guess,
just to be going back
and representing Houston again.
I was talking with a past champion,
and of course I asked her
the most obvious question,
“Why do you think so many Indians
win the Bees?”
And she said, for her,
one of the key reasons is that languages
is something that her family and herself
just know so much about.
Her parents were fluent in five languages,
and while that’s a lot,
being multilingual is commonplace.
And the familiarity of language,
the ability to communicate so fluently
across multiple languages,
helps the kids in their minds grasp words,
grasp spelling, grasp languages,
nuances, its etymologies,
and that helps them achieve in the Bee.
Uh-ah, e-i, u-oo, ru-roo, ei-ay, ai.
Akash can fluently read-write
three languages.
Mother tongue, English.
Mother’s mother tongue, Telugu.
And then Hindi,
which is India’s national language.
-So he’s fluent in three languages. Yeah.
-Yeah, he can read and write.
And he is really looking
into learn other languages,
like, you know,
German or Hebrew or Korean.
To be a winner, you probably need
to master 60 to 100 thousand words.
You also need to understand patterns
from different languages.
You need to study old Bees,
and one of the things
we haven’t talked about
is you’ve got to be able to stand on stage
and think on your feet
and present these words
without getting distracted
or getting flustered,
and think through what the word means,
and you’ve got a limited time clock
to do this. It’s a huge amount of work.
Most of these students spend
one to two hours a day, all week,
every week,
and then more on the weekends,
and they do this for years
leading up to the National Bee.
Some of these students start on this
as young as three and four years old
in some of these families.
These kids have put more time
into spelling by the time they’re 13
than most of us put into anything
our entire lives.
The popular misconception
of these families
is that they are "tiger parents,"
who are drilling their kids,
forcing them to study against their will.
How else can you explain
why so many Indian children
are excelling
in this one particular niche?
To be honest, when children are young,
parents do typically enroll their kids
in a spelling bee
or some other academic competition,
the same way
that parents enroll their children
into basketball or swimming
without asking their kids' permission,
hoping that their kids will like it
and get good at something.
But the kids don’t stick with it
unless they like it,
and the parents don’t force their kids
to become spellers
unless the kids find
some internal drive for it.
The Spelling Bee
was something I wanted to do.
I didn’t get intense pressure
from home to do it.
In fact, after losing out in 1984
in the National Spelling Bee,
my parents said,
“Do you really want to do this again?”
I thought about it and I said,
“Yes, I do want to pursue it again.”
This is a metaphor for
something else, a metaphor for success,
it’s a metaphor for
"I have achieved something
and received recognition
within my own community,"
and the motivations would be the same
as anything else in life.
Mmm! Let’s begin round one
of the Vukoti Spelling Bee. Let's go.
Number one.
When you watch the Bee,
the first thing you think of is
it’s a family affair
throughout the whole process.
Accommodate.
A-C-C-O-M-M-O-D-A-T-E.
- Accommodate.
- Good job.
When a parent devotes a lot of time
to coaching a student
through a spelling competition,
the siblings are there.
They’re listening to it, learning it,
picking it up,
and there’s usually
some competition among the siblings.
Their parents have already figured out
by the time you get to the second sibling
how to help that speller
learn and practice
in a much more refined
and efficient way.
When the older one won the district
spelling bee, the younger one,
who’s three years younger than him,
wrote down every word correctly
in the district bee
that everybody got. So, you know, he’s...
He’s in second grade.
I got into it in second grade,
and that was
when Shobha was in fourth grade,
so we had just really started that year
'cause, like,
that was the year that Shobha won
her first school spelling bee,
so then my parents just started
helping her from there.
Initially, we thought
he would be a good pronouncer,
because some of the words we were not able
to pronounce the way Shobha wanted.
So we recruited him
as a pronouncer to Shobha,
and then he realized that,
"Oh, I can just not be the pronouncer,
I can be the best speller too
and I can beat my sister too."
So I think that’s how it started,
and after that he took off.
We were really competitive
with each other,
but it was kind of like a balance.
Like, we’d be really competitive at a bee
and we wouldn’t talk to each other,
that kind of thing.
Or I would talk to him,
but he wouldn’t talk to me.
And then, once we got home,
it was fine though.
We’d sit in the game room
and play video games and, like...
that kind of thing.
I don’t think there was a moment
where he, like,
questioned why he was doing it.
He just knew he wanted to win,
and so he, like... he just went for it,
and I really admire that about him.
I’ve been doing it for such a long time,
and it’s something that I really enjoy.
And to be the best at it, that would be,
like, a really surreal experience.
Now, I’ll research more things about this.
I just like going to Wikipedia and reading
about stuff 'cause I like reading.
I can connect it to spelling in a way,
because hali-ya, blah-blah-blah,
which is a scientific name
for a bald eagle.
It actually comes from the Greek,
hali meaning "sea," aetos meaning "eagle,"
leuko meaning "white,"
and suphlos meaning "head."
And they all squish it together.
So I just want to do
further research into that.
If I see a new word, like in school,
maybe...
Maybe one day, my teacher uses
the word "finagle,"
I’m like, “What does finagle mean?”
I look it up.
And maybe, in the word "finagle,’"
I see the word "persifleur,’"
then maybe I’ll research that.
And then maybe in that entry,
I find a different word.
And in that entry,
I find a different word.
And I research all of them,
and then that’s how I expand my vocab.
Hmm...
Hmm, hmm...
Akash, are you excited
for tomorrow?
Yeah! I’m really excited!
But I’m also kind of nervous
at the same time.
I want you to go through one more time
all the etymology things, okay?
-Yep.
-You got the necessary words in this list.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, should we do it?
Long "iya" and a plural noun,
spelled "ae,"
as in algae, larvae...
Wait, larvae?
Antennae.
So you know all these words' spellings,
right?
- Mm-hmm.
- Yes or no?
- So can I go to next page?
- Go ahead.
- Cirrhosis. You wrote--
-Cirrhosis.
Mm-hmm.
- C-I...
- Mm-hmm.
...R-R-H-O-S-I-S.
-Cirrhosis.
-Good job!
If at all Akash continues his interest
in the spellings
in the same way
like what he has now,
we expect him to win
the National Spelling Bee title,
like, in three to four years,
by sixth grade.
If he can become the national champion,
he’ll be blessed
and all of us would be blessed.
Contestants,
if you will please rise.
We’re going to say
the Pledge of Allegiance
before we get started.
I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America.
We all set? Let’s roll.
Stucco.
Is... Are there any other
alternate pronunciations, please?
May I have the language of origin, please?
May I have the definition, please?
May I have the sentence, please?
"Akash spent weeks
finishing a large collage
of a Paris street scene."
C-O...
...T-O-R-I-A. Trattoria.
And then there were four. The final four.
This word has a homonym.
The word is "boarders."
It is a noun,
and it’s "people
who are provided with regular meals
or regular meals and lodging."
May I have the alternate pronunciations,
please?
There are none.
May I have the language of origin, please?
This word consists
of two originally English parts.
Can you please repeat the word again?
Boarders.
D-E...
R-S. "Borders."
Okay.
Good luck to all my fellow spellers.
I hope I’ll come back next year.
He's still young
and he has a lot of years,
so he might learn some new words.
I’ve heard of that word before,
but I’ve heard it many times
when I was older.
'Cause when I was his age,
I had no idea what that word is.
Akash, you're in second grade.
Yeah, you've got
so many more chances to go.
That's okay.
"The question over there was
who would be going to Washington, D.C.,
representing our region.
That was the only question over there.
You may or may not be
the regional champion,
but you’re already the school champion,
and, you know, on the way to prepare
for this Spelling Bee,
you improved your knowledge.
That’s the purpose
of why the Scripps National Spelling Bee
is there,
and we are on the way.
One day, you may
get the National Spelling Bee trophy."
So that’s what we said.
He understood it.
You can see a smile on his face now.
That was only for, you know, a brief time,
and, you know, that’s very...
quite natural for a kid.
If it isn't obvious yet,
I love the Spelling Bee.
Or as I like to call it,
the Indian Super Bowl.
Six winners in a row! Six in a row, son!
That’s incredible!
So it gives me great pleasure
to finally say,
“Hey, white people, learn the language.”
Writing that piece, I got to put together
all the reasons I loved it.
Like, here was something
that we were dominant in...
that had never been seen before.
And it's spelling!
But, of course,
the internet would not let me
enjoy this completely.
One patriot tweeted,
“America has to step it up
with our spelling game.
Last three remaining,
all of Indian decent.”
First of all, these kids of Indian descent
are also American.
- Woo!
- Secondly, you spelled "descent" wrong!
The kid who won that year
was Arvind Mahankali, who was from Queens.
It was a big deal to me,
both as a Queens resident
and as an Indian-American.
These kids are amazing, and they know it!
I mean, look how cool Arvind is
winning the title.
That is so G! That is so G!
Little homie didn’t even care that he won!
He looks like he’s still waiting
for the next word!
And I’m like,
"Why can’t we celebrate that?
Why can’t we celebrate the fact
that this kid did something
and he did it in such a cool way?"
He reached the mountain top
of that particular sport.
So, yeah, I wanted to celebrate that.
Luckily, I got to do that
in a very ridiculous way.
For those of us who
are not in the Bees, what we see online,
the racist or xenophobic comments
critiquing Indians who win,
it's very disparaging
and it’s very disheartening.
And we worry about the families
and, of course, about the kids themselves.
When you have
an activity that's so explicitly branded
as a quintessentially American contest,
the idea of who gets to be named
as an American
and who is considered
a legitimate champion in that arena
is really coded still by whiteness,
and there’s a real emphasis on America
ultimately remaining a white country.
I dread the day when
"somebody else" wins the Spelling Bee,
because it'll make me sad,
the kind of commentary
that comes out of that.
And it’s the kind of commentary
about taking something back that…
It is endemic to so much
of our national debate right now
in such a misguided way.
For years, our representation
was dictated by other people.
We were forced to play
convenience store owners
or we were forced to play cab drivers.
Like, there was a limited range
of representation.
Like, film and TV, you know, especially
when you’re such a small minority,
affect how the whole country
or the whole world views you.
And these kids, like, they earn
their way on television by succeeding.
Only in New York City could a child
of Indian immigrants,
who speaks Spanish and Telugu,
compete for a trophy
named for a British-American
newspaper publisher,
and win the competition for spelling
a Yiddish word.
I’ve actually been kvelling all day.
Do you know how to spell "kvelling"?
Yeah, I figured.
...A-N-E-E-R. Sloganeer.
That's correct. We have a champion!
...O-U-S.
Fatuous.
Correct!
...K-A.
Zubrowka.
There you go!
This is my lucky purple rock.
His fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Gribben,
she has given him that rock.
We keep it in here
just to keep it really safe
because when I’m spelling,
I don’t feel as confident
when I’m not carrying this rock.
So I always ensure
that it’s safe and sound.
They’re treated like diamonds
at my household where...
Especially during Bee season.
I know I might not really show it,
but I’m just like…
I can’t describe it in words.
I’m that excited!
A few years ago,
when I was in first grade,
all I did was win my school
and I participated in the regionals.
Now, I’m actually going to the Scripps.
I mean, that feeling is just great for me.
We have been waiting for this
for the past two years.
Now it finally came true.
Oh, we heard so many exciting things
about the Bee Week.
Ah, we’re really excited
to go and be there!
Like, you know,
my kid is going to be there on the ESPN,
so I can’t just like, yeah…
My goal? I’m studying really hard
to be at least in the top 50,
but I’m not expecting to do better
than that because I...
I just really want to be in the top 50.
That’s all I want to do this year.
Scripps National Spelling Bee
is in ten days,
so Shourav is almost done
with the reviewing.
Now, these ten days,
he will go through the dictionary words
one more time.
It’s kind of surreal, I guess,
because, like, I’ve been doing it
for so long, it’s just like...
You've only... I only have ten more days
and then I’m done with it, so…
It’s just kind of, like,
just do all you can because...
Well, in ten days, you’ll be done with it,
so you don’t have to worry
about it anymore.
I just have, like, a few words
here and there that I don’t know,
so I think I’m pretty confident
that whatever happens
then I’ll just be happy with it.
So these are diacritical marks,
and that’s how, like,
the pronouncers at Bees read the words
off the list that they have.
That’s how I also read the words
for the database.
I just see the diacriticals
and I can read it like a second language,
and then I type it.
Usually, if it’s a word that I’m, like,
100 percent confident about,
I can, like... While I’m typing it,
I can just look at the next word,
so that’s how I can go so fast.
After, like, years of doing it,
it just kind of becomes second nature.
So, I’m about to just type and see
how many words I can type in a minute
if I just go as fast as I can, so…
So, three, two, one.
Yeah, so that’s…
I just finished the one minute
and I did 45 words in that minute.
Saying it out loud takes, like,
probably five to ten seconds.
Typing a word takes, like, two seconds...
two to three seconds.
So it’s just... It just goes faster
for the same effect,
so I think typing is, like,
the better way.
We have, like, a root word document,
and I study 100 root words
and I take a two-minute break,
and then I study another 100,
take a two-minute break.
But I’m just trying to study
as much as I can without cramming.
She has studied well.
She has worked hard for the whole year.
All she can do is do her best
and I’m sure she’ll do her best.
My plan is just to study
for confidence,
so I can go on stage thinking,
"Okay, I’ve studied all the words I can.
Now, it’s just up to the word I get
and up to my stage performance."
It’s not exactly religious,
but we follow a scripture
called Bhagavad Gita, where it says,
"Do your duty. There are so many things
out of your control,
and don’t focus on the results."
And that’s something
we have always been telling Tejas,
not just for Spelling Bee, for his life.
I mean, for his studies,
for his academics, for his job,
and I think he’ll be looking forward
to find his new adventure
and move on to his new interests.
I’m pretty relaxed,
I’d have to say,
but there’s always, like,
a bit of nerves involved.
But I think I’ve been here, like,
four times before, five including now,
so I think I’m pretty familiar
with everything.
So I think I’m just relaxed
and just ready to go.
I think Shourav has
a winning chance of about 90 percent.
We are going with the hope
that he will be the champion,
but if there is any
one or two percent chance
of not getting the championship,
that is fine because it is another year.
We are now ready
to begin round two
of the 2017 Scripps National Spelling Bee
presented by Kindle.
Speller number one, Naomi Zarin,
you may approach the microphone.
- Hi, Naomi.
- Hi.
Your word is "politeia."
Can I have the definition?
Your word is "embezzlement."
Can I have the language of origin?
Ah!
Lambdacism?
Lamdacism.
Lambdacism.
Savoyard, or savo-yard,
or savoy-ar,
or savoy-yard.
Could you please repeat the word?
Filipendulous.
Correct.
Correct.
Correct.
Correct.
Correct.
Correct.
Correct.
That's correct.
Correct.
Correct.
- Correct.
- Repudiate.
Could you please sing it in a song?
You don't want to hear that.
Correct.
Correct.
Correct.
Look, Dr. Bailly, you really need
to come through for me right now, okay?
Correct.
That concludes round three
and the preliminaries
of the 2017 Scripps National Spelling Bee
presented by Kindle.
Here are your 2017
Scripps National Spelling Bee finalists.
From Huntsville, Alabama,
speller 36, Erin Howard.
From North Andover, Massachusetts,
speller number 214, Ashrita Gandhahari.
From St. Johns, Florida,
speller number 167, Sreeniketh Vogoti.
A face you’ve seen before from Glen Allen,
Virginia, number 143, Tejas Muthusamy.
From Bainbridge, New York,
speller number nine, Melodie Loya.
From Spring, Texas, number 254,
Shourav Dasari.
I know they’re excited
at Fugman Elementary
in Fresno, California,
for speller number 264, Ananya Vinay.
And our final finalist
for 2017,
from Edmond, Oklahoma, number 235,
Rohan Rajeev.
Once again, everyone,
all of these young spellers
are our 2017 Scripps
National Spelling Bee finalists.
Congratulations, you guys. Great job!
That standing ovation is for you.
The one thing
you notice about Thursday morning
is the level of difficulty,
completely different
from what we witnessed on Wednesday.
- Hi, Melodie.
- Hi.
Should we do this?
No.
Purlieu, or per-lew.
Correct.
Are there any alternate pronunciations?
Chryselephantine.
T-I...
That is correct.
- Correct.
- Thank you.
- Hi.
- Hi, Ashrita.
- Elidible.
- Elidible?
Elidible.
Could I have the definition?
"Capable of being passed over
or suppressed."
Could I have
the language of origin?
It’s made up of originally Latin parts.
- Elidible?
- Elidible.
Elidible.
Elidible.
I-L-L-I-D-A-B-L-E.
"Illidable."
-Elidible is spelled E-L-I-D-I-B-L-E.
-Thank you.
Okay, so I misspelled
a word up there.
I feel like I really overcomplicated it.
I didn’t really get really sad over it
'cause I have, like, four more years.
I did really good, I did my best,
and I don’t really mind, so...
We are extremely proud
of my daughter’s achievements.
She made it so far. We are definitely
going to come back next year.
For the first-timer,
for a fourth-grader, tying for 40th spot
is more than what we expected her
to do this year,
so she did an awesome job.
The competition
is not so much
about this kid on stage versus this kid.
It’s this kid versus a dictionary
of a half a million words.
At that point, I wanna go up there
and give them a high five and be like,
"Yeah, you kicked butt here to get here."
People worry about competition.
They don’t wanna keep score
in anything intellectual in the U.S.
Oh, we keep score in sports
but nothing intellectual.
Here, we can keep score intellectually
and realize
that it doesn’t put down somebody
just because one person wins.
It’s a celebration of learning.
Artiad.
That is correct.
R-U-C-E-T-T-E.
-Warison.
-Warison. Can I have the spelling, please?
You almost got me.
I don’t know if I can ask this,
but does this contain the French word
boudin meaning sausage?
- Yes.
- Okay.
Correct.
Corriedale. Kari-dale.
May I please have the definition?
"A member of a breed of rather large,
usually hornless sheep
developed in New Zealand
from several different breeds."
C-O...
R-E-Y...
D-A-L-E.
Coreydale?
Aw.
Corriedale
is spelled C-O-R-R-I-E-D-A-L-E.
Virement.
Correct.
That's correct.
Correct.
Yes!
-That is correct.
-Yes!
-Correct.
-Thank you.
-Correct.
-Thank you.
Correct. Correct.
Correct. Correct. Correct.
-Correct.
-Thank you.
That concludes round seven.
Spellers, you're going to be
on ESPN tonight.
Congratulations, spellers.
I’m really excited
since it’s something
that I’ve been
working hard for for a long time.
I just finally get to be a part
of the night finals on ESPN.
I’m gonna brag to my friends.
I’m gonna be on ESPN,
I don’t need to be an athlete or anything.
What I loved about Shourav
is that there was...
there was flavor to the whole thing.
And there’s nothing wrong
with having that type of flavor.
I mean, when you’re wearing
the lucky Nike hoodie
that’s carried you
through this whole thing.
He’s on stage
and halfway through the word,
he starts to have that little smile,
like he knew.
He knew it was a big event
and he was confident!
It also separated him from other people
because each time up, you’re like,
"All right, where’s the guy?
Where’s the guy in the hoodie?
Where is Shourav?”
And I think that was a cool element
to have in the program.
It worked well.
I definitely got words that I knew
or was able to derive.
In each round,
there’s probably one or two words
that I didn’t recognize at first
that other people got,
and so I would consider myself
pretty lucky.
I’m just going to look over
a couple of words
just to get my mind in the zone and...
Relax, maybe meditate a little bit.
I’m not sure if I’ll have time for that,
but definitely relax
and soak in the experience
because I know next year
I’m not going to be able to have it,
no matter what happens.
And then we get to the final 15
and you can’t ignore
what we’re looking at:
thirteen Indian-Americans.
We now begin round eight,
the prime time finals,
and to start things off,
the 1980 Bee champion Dr. Jacques Bailly
is our pronouncer,
his 15th year in this role.
Let’s start the spelling.
Xanthochroism.
Xanthochroism. Language of origin?
This word is made up of parts
that went from Greek to Latin,
plus an English combining form.
Does this contain
the Greek root xantho
-meaning yellow?
-Yes.
Does this contain the Greek root chro
-meaning color?
-Yes.
That is correct.
I’ll try my best.
That is correct.
Correct.
That is correct.
Oh, dang it.
Savate is spelled S-A-V-A-T-E.
- That is correct.
- Okay.
That is correct.
That is correct.
Correct.
That is correct.
Saussurite.
Could you repeat the word, please?
Saussurite.
Saussurite. Definition, please?
"A mineral consisting of a tough,
compact substance
that is white, greenish or grayish,
and is produced in part at least
by alteration of feldspar."
- Could you repeat the word again?
- Saussurite.
So there are no alternate pronunciations?
Just the one. Saussurite.
Saussurite.
Saussurite.
S-A-U-C...
E-R-I-T-E. "Saucerite."
Saussurite is spelled
S-A-U-S-S-U-R-I-T-E.
Thank you.
Did you know it?
I don't know.
I thought it was like cup and saucer.
You did very well.
I'm very proud of you.
Whatever happened, I'm very proud of you.
You'll always be my champion.
Mogollon.
Correct.
Then you’re watching Shourav
and you see this extreme confidence
on the stage.
At that point, you feel like
he has all the makings,
and the one thing that stood out
was how quickly he got that one word,
within five seconds,
but everybody in the room felt like,
"That’s the guy."
Ubaid.
Can I have the definition?
"Of or relating
to an early Bronze Age culture
in Mesopotamia prior to 3000 BCE."
Can you repeat the word again?
Ubaid. Ub-ayd.
Can I have the language of origin?
It’s from
an Iraqi geographical name.
Can you use it in a sentence?
Can you repeat the pronunciations again?
Ubaid. Ub-ayd.
That is correct.
Spiegeleisen.
That is correct.
That is correct.
Correct.
That is correct.
Struldbrug.
Str... Can you repeat the word again?
Struldbrug.
Can I have the definition?
"One of a class of imaginary persons
who can never die,
but who are declared dead in law
at the age of 80
and live on wretchedly at state expense."
Are there any alternate pronunciations?
There’s struldbrug and strul-brug.
Can I have the language of origin?
It’s from an English
literary name. Struldbrug. Strul-brug.
Can you repeat the word again?
Struldbrug.
Or strul-brug.
Struldbrug.
S-T-R-O-L-D...
B-R-U-G. "Stroldbrug."
Struldbrug is spelled
S-T-R-U-L-D-B-R-U-G.
It comes down to two,
two students that were unflappable.
Ananya on one side, the sixth grader.
And then Rohan, the 14-year-old,
who’s never been here before.
First time on this stage in this setting.
And you couldn’t tell!
They were both locked in.
That is correct.
That is correct.
That is correct.
That is correct.
That is correct.
That is correct.
That is correct.
That is correct.
That's correct.
That is correct.
That is correct.
That is correct.
Marram is spelled
M-A-R-R-A-M.
Gifblaar.
Definition, please.
"Gifblaar is
a perennial shrub of southern Africa
that is deadly poisonous to livestock."
Language of origin?
Afrikaans.
Are there any alternate pronunciations?
Just the one.
That is correct.
Ananya,
if you spell this next word correctly,
we will declare you the 2017
Scripps National Spelling Bee champion.
Marocain.
Marocain.
May I have the definition, please?
"A dress fabric that is made
with a warp of silk or rayon
and a filling of other yarns,
and is similar to
but heavier than canton crepe."
Part of speech?
- Noun.
- Language of origin?
It’s from a French word
from an African geographical name.
Are there any alternate pronunciations?
There are not.
Can you please repeat the word?
Marocain.
-That is correct.
-Congratulations, Ananya!
You are the champion!
Ananya,
this is yours.
Congratulations, you're the 2017 champion
of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
The trend of Indian-American success
in the Bee is long-running,
and I think it’s going to continue
in that direction
for the unforeseeable future.
Congratulations, Karthik.
You are the 2018 Scripps
National Spelling Bee Champion!
The most phenomenal assemblage
of super-spellers
in the history
of this storied competition.
It’s never gonna be all Indian.
We have plenty of other students
who are competing,
but they are highly successful,
they are having fun with it,
and they are winning.
I don’t see it changing anytime soon.
The only way Indian-American kids
are losing the Spelling Bee
is if they switch to Spanish next year.
And then it’s still, like, 50/50.
I think that this is in part a reflection
of this particular time in our history,
and some of the values
that have been instilled, I think,
by Indian immigrants on their kids.
The relentless and, I think, you know,
for the most part, constructive focus
on education for these kids,
and the fact that spelling in particular
ended up fulfilling all these aspirations
of these parents for their kids.
As generations go on,
you may see less of a focus
on things like Spelling Bees
and hopefully more of a focus
on other areas as well.
Things that may not necessarily
be purely academic,
but other areas where kids
are interested in and want to excel.
So I think you’ll see
a sort of more broadening out
of particularly Indian-American kids’
interests.
The Spelling Bee
playing every year on television,
I think it certainly inspires lots
of South Asian kids, Indian-American kids
to take up spelling as a thing.
But it’s also getting
a bunch of other kids into it too
that aren’t South Asian.
Tiger Woods, most of his heroes in golf
would’ve been white, right?
Like, for the most part?
Like, considering what the sport is?
Yet that inspired him to achieve,
so who’s to say that there isn’t some,
like, kid in the middle of America,
who’s, like, brown or black or Latino,
isn’t a huge Arvind Mahankali-head.
That’s, like, the dude
he looked up to when he was a kid,
and now wants to win.
But the truth is, I think, what
these kids show more than anything else
is American assimilation at work.
Here are kids who really come
from a very different world and culture
in their historical and cultural origins,
and they are taking part
in the most American tradition,
doing well at it, playing by the rules.
If that’s not American assimilation
at work, I don’t know what is.
We are part of this DNA,
this melting pot, uh, cliché.
And it’s not a cliché, we are part of it.
And to have ownership of one thing,
in the sense of that we can
dominate something, it’s pretty cool,
considering there’s just one percent
of the population of Indian-Americans.
So to me, when I say that,
I say that as a joke, like,
"Yes! We own this!"
Because it’s a small thing,
but it means so much
to so many people in our community.
It just was the perfect storm.
And I think Spelling Bees,
I mean, that became the Olympics
for so many Indians.
Humuhumunukunukuapua'a.
I just need to say it slowly.
You got it.
Humu humu, you just say "humu humu,"
and then you say "nuku nuku,"
and then you say "apua ah,"
and then you finish the whole thing.
Say it.