Fishy word ends Cherry Hill girl's quest for bee trophy
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - Shruthika Padhy of Cherry Hill never expected to make it to the finals of the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Her expectations proved too low. She did make it to the finals, but the trophy will go to someone else this year. In Round 4, Shruthika stumbled on the spelling of "tyee," a type of salmon. After asking bee officials for "all the information for this word" and writing it on her hand with her finger, she tried and missed with "t-a-h-i."
This was the first appearance at the national bee for the 10-year-old Bret Harte Elementary School student, but she has participated in and won several local and regional spelling bee competitions.
Shruthika said her strategy going into the bee was to understand that "the competition is the dictionary, not the people up on stage with me."
She said Thursday she wasn't nervous and that it was an honor competing with her fellow spellers. Being on stage, she said, gave her the feeling she could do anything.
"Spelling is my passion," she said. "That makes it fun for me."
After leaving the stage, Shruthika got hugs from her mother, Sujata Sabat, and father, Uma Padhy, and was joined by her 6-year-old brother Prachet Padhy. Her father said he tried to encourage her before Thursday's rounds: "You can win it," he said he told her. "Think positive."
Shruthika said she hopes to give the bee another shot and return next year. She reached her goal of making it to the finals and learned a valuable lesson, she said.
"I learned that it's always good to hope and try your best," she said.
Shruthika is an avid reader who also plays flute and piano and performs in chorus groups. She loves swimming and soccer and enjoys watching NFL and NBA games. Shruthika admires Greek culture and mythology and hopes to someday visit Greece.
Shruthika is one of two New Jersey spellers who made it to the final rounds. The other was Rimas Chacar-Palubinskas, 13, of Ho-Ho-Kus, who misspelled "strephosymbolia" on stage Thursday morning.
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Bayville's Justin Kyle Malabanan, 14, who was sponsored by the Asbury Park Press, ended his run on Wednesday after misspelling the word "demibastion," which is a part of a fortification.
This year's words were difficult, at least according to 2006 champ Kerry Close, a New Jersey native.
She tweeted to a reporter Thursday, "I'm definitely getting tripped up as I'm watching ... but I might just be very out of practice!"
The 284 spellers who began this year’s bee ranged in age from 6 to 14 and were almost evenly divided among boys (144) and girls (141). They hailed from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as the Bahamas, Canada, Europe, Ghana, Guam, Jamaica, Japan, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
It ended in a tie for the 3rd straight year with Jairam Hathwar and Nihar Janga declared co-champions. They will take home $40,000 in cash, a trophy and other prizes.
Last year’s winners were Vanya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kansas, and Gokul Venkatachalam of Chesterfield, Missouri. The two battled through 20 tense, error-free rounds.
This year, finalists faced more challenging words. Instead of using a prearranged list of 25 words, organizers used an expanded list of words from anywhere in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary.
Contributing: Matt Flowers, The Courier-Post.