2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champions

Posted on: June 29, 2019 by: Deshvidesh

Rishik Gandhasri
School Name: Chaboya Middle School City/State: San Jose, CA Grade: 7 Age: 13 Accomplishments: Rishik has played 3 different instruments, but his favorite one is the saxophone. He is an active participant in his school band. Sponsering Organization: Bay Area Regional Spelling Bee Bio: My favorite subjects are math, science, reading and STEAM. I love building LEGOs and can spend days on a build. I also thoroughly enjoy helping my dad with growing organic fruits and vegetables. Planting seeds and watching them grow helps me learn about the growth process, the environment and the food I eat. I love to water the plants and get some physical exercise at the same time. During my free time, I love to play on my saxophone. I also love to hang out with my young toddler cousin whenever I can. My family is very adventurous; we go hiking and biking whenever we can. For example, we have hiked in coal and mercury mines. We also biked all around San Francisco, including the Golden Gate Bridge. Photo Credit : Mark Bowen/Scripps National Spelling Bee
Saketh Sundar
School Name: Clarksville Middle School City/State: Clarksville, MD Grade: 8 Age: 13 Accomplishments: Saketh enjoy watching Mythbusters and Shark Tank TV Shows. Sponsering Organization: Howard County Library System Bio: Saketh has been good at math from a young age and attends an accelerated gifted and talented math program.He received an award for high honors from the Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University. He plays the violin and is part of his school‚Äôs orchestra.In his free time , he listen to TED talks to learn new things from the experts. Saketh likes watching football, especially his favorite team, the Baltimore Ravens. Justin Tucker is his favorite player because he is very accurate. He wants to be a gastroenterologist when he grows up because he wants to cure people with stomach disorders. Saketh participated in the 2018 (19th place), 2017 (12th place) and 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Photo Credit : Mark Bowen/Scripps National Spelling Bee
Abhijay Kodali
School Name: McKamy Middle School City/State: Flower Mound, TX Grade: 6 Age: 12 Accomplishments: Abhijay has a pet German Shepherd named Zeus that he got as a gift for getting third in Scripps last year. Sponsering Organization: Dallas Sports Commission Bio: Abhijay has been competing in spelling bees since second grade. He likes spelling bees because they allow him to learn new words but also make new friends. In addition to spelling, Abhijay likes to read, play tennis, and watch superhero TV shows and sports. Abhijay’s favorite sport to watch is basketball, and his favorite team is his hometown Dallas Mavericks. Photo Credit : Mark Bowen/Scripps National Spelling Bee
Shruthika Padhy
School Name: Rosa International Middle School City/State: Cherry Hill, NJ Grade: 8 Age: 13 Accomplishments: Shruthika played in the National Indoor Tournament for Field Hockey this year and also got to meet Olympians from the US National Field Hockey team. Sponsering Organization: Rosa International Middle School Bio: Shruthika’s love of reading and languages propelled her to participate in spelling bees at age of 5. She sings in her school’s chorus and has been playing the flute for five years. She played for the Cherry Hill High School West Marching Band as an 8th grader. She has also been learning Indian Classical music and is a part of a musical group that performs for seniors in care centers. She enjoys playing and watching sports. She plays on her school’s field hockey team and also plays for her local club, who she went to nationals with. Besides working on the tech team on her school’s broadcast TV, she was a member of her school Mathcounts team that competed at the state level this year. Shruthika is competing in the Scripps National Spelling Bee for the fourth time, and placed 22nd, 7th and 10th in 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively. Photo Credit : Mark Bowen/Scripps National Spelling Bee
Sohum Sukhatankar
School Name: St. Mark’s School of Texas City/State: Dallas, TX Grade: 7 Age: 13 Accomplishments: Sohum taught himself Origami at the age of 8 by watching YouTube videos. He’s made over 50 unique pieces to date. Sponsering Organization: Dallas Sports Commission Bio: Sohum is a 7th grade student at St. Mark’s school of Texas. He loves reading and coding. He’s also part of the quiz bowl team at his school and loves increasing his general knowledge. He enjoys travelling. Some of the countries he’s visited include Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Belize, Honduras, India and Bahamas. Some of his major spelling accomplishments include – Dallas Regional Spelling Bee Champion 2017 – 23rd at Scripps National Spelling Bee 2017 – 1st place (Champion) at North South Foundation’s Senior Spelling Bee 2017 – 25th at Scripps National Spelling Bee 2018 – 1st place (Champion) at South Asian Spelling Bee 2018 – Dallas Regional Spelling Bee Runner Up 2019 Photo Credit : Mark Bowen/Scripps National Spelling Bee
Christopher Serrao
School Name: Readington Middle School City/State: Readington, NJ Grade: 7 Age: 13 Accomplishments: Christopher likes to travel and try new cuisines. Last summer, he visited Lisbon, Portugal and Houston, TX and loved the food there Sponsering Organization: Discover Lehigh Valley Bio: Christopher has been musically inclined from a young age. He plays the acoustic guitar and likes playing classical music. His favorite group is Imagine Dragons. As a member of the church choir, he sings liturgical music at mass services. Christopher loves to read. He has read the entire Harry Potter series, several times. Last year, Christopher watched ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ on Broadway. He also enjoys mysteries by Agatha Christie. He considers ‘And Then There Were None’ among his favorite books. He enjoys swimming and playing tennis and soccer. He likes painting. He enjoys visits to zoos and museums. His favorite museums are The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The American Museum of Natural History. He is fascinated by prehistoric creatures and his favorite is the dimetrodon. Photo Credit : Mark Bowen/Scripps National Spelling Bee
Rohan Raja
School Name: Coppell Middle School West City/State: Irving, TX Grade: 7 Age: 13 Accomplishments: I have been participating in spelling bee since I was in 2nd grade Sponsering Organization: Dallas Sports Commission Bio: With a keen knack to remember words in sequence from his weekly class spelling list right from his kindergarten days, Rohan has a natural flair for spelling and a photographic memory to go with it. His interest and curiosity in exploring things around him, has gravitated his passion for words and in understanding their relevance to people,places and cultures . He is a big time foodie and loves extra spicy food. When is he not cracking jokes and pulling odd tricks with his doting young brother, he is busy cajoling his father for an umpteenth game of ping pong. Rohan follows and plays tennis and cricket. He loves watching superhero movies and is also a big anime buff. Photo Credit : Mark Bowen/Scripps National Spelling Bee

Rishik Gandhasri

Chaboya Middle School

Saketh Sundar

Clarksville Middle School

Abhijay Kodali

McKamy Middle School

Shruthika Padhy

Rosa International Middle School

Sohum Sukhatankar

St. Mark’s School of Texas

Christopher Serrao

Readington Middle School

Rohan Raja

Coppell Middle School West

Past Spelling Bee Winners (Indian American )

From 1985-2019

1985	Balu Natarajan
1988	Rageshree Ramachandran
1999	Nupur Lala
2002	Pratyush Buddiga
2003	Sai Gunturi
2005	Anurag Kashyap
2006	Kerry Close
2008	Sameer Mishra
2009	Kavya Shivashankar
2010	Anamika Veeramani
2011	Sukanya Roy
2012	Snigdha Nandipati
2013	Arvind Mahankali
2014	Sriram J. Hathwar
2014	Ansun Sujoe
2015	Vanya Shivashankar
2015	Gokul Venkatachalam
2016	Jairam Hathwar
2016	Nihar Saireddy Janga
2017	Ananya Vinay
2018	Karthik Nemmani