Every year, James River students in fourth through eighth grade compete in our school-level Scripps Spelling Bee. Students first compete against their classmates in their classrooms. The classroom winners then go on to the school spelling bee. By winning her classroom and the school-wide competition, sixth grader Nikitha Prabhu earned the right to represent James River Day School in the Scripps Regional Spelling Bee.
The regional bee, held March 18, was hosted by The News & Advance at Paul L. Dunbar Middle School for Innovation with Mayor Joan Foster, Vice Mayor Treney Tweedy, and The News & Advance opinion editor Logan Anderson serving as judges. The winners of 18 area school-level bees competed against one another. Several of those students were returning winners having been to the regional bee in previous years. This was Nikitha’s first regional competition, but she handled the pressure with aplomb.
In the first 50 minutes of competition, all but two students, Nikitha and Eujine Kim, were eliminated from the competition. After that, the two girls went head-to-head for over a hundred rounds that lasted about an hour. Some of the words that Nikitha spelled correctly were: schottische, gesundheit, voortrekker, rejoneador, Panglossian, comandante, raita, streusel, aul, and hafiz. In the final round, Nikitha misspelled the word pollyanna while Miss Kim spelled her word, operation, correctly. To quote a judge after competition, "I thought this would never end." Eujine Kim, the first place winner is a seventh grader at Dunbar and a returning champion. Nikitha’s parents, Swathi and Nagesh Prabhu were understandably proud of their daughter and thankful for the support James River has given her.
Swathi commented in an email to Mary Riser, our Head of School, “[Her achievement at the spelling bee is] all thanks to the amazing school she goes to! Big thanks to Teri [Teri Brandon, Nikitha's English teacher] for all her support from the very beginning. She was amongst the first to get to the auditorium - it meant a lot to Nikitha having Teri there. Also, big thanks to Nancy [Nancy Hardison, Nikitha’s advisor] for her support and encouragement, that helped build her confidence. […] Thanks again to you, Peter [York] and all the faculty who have taught her not just spelling words, but skills like perseverance, hard work and confidence.”
Congratulations to Nikitha on her magnificent performance in the Lynchburg area regional spelling bee.
The regional bee, held March 18, was hosted by The News & Advance at Paul L. Dunbar Middle School for Innovation with Mayor Joan Foster, Vice Mayor Treney Tweedy, and The News & Advance opinion editor Logan Anderson serving as judges. The winners of 18 area school-level bees competed against one another. Several of those students were returning winners having been to the regional bee in previous years. This was Nikitha’s first regional competition, but she handled the pressure with aplomb.
In the first 50 minutes of competition, all but two students, Nikitha and Eujine Kim, were eliminated from the competition. After that, the two girls went head-to-head for over a hundred rounds that lasted about an hour. Some of the words that Nikitha spelled correctly were: schottische, gesundheit, voortrekker, rejoneador, Panglossian, comandante, raita, streusel, aul, and hafiz. In the final round, Nikitha misspelled the word pollyanna while Miss Kim spelled her word, operation, correctly. To quote a judge after competition, "I thought this would never end." Eujine Kim, the first place winner is a seventh grader at Dunbar and a returning champion. Nikitha’s parents, Swathi and Nagesh Prabhu were understandably proud of their daughter and thankful for the support James River has given her.
Swathi commented in an email to Mary Riser, our Head of School, “[Her achievement at the spelling bee is] all thanks to the amazing school she goes to! Big thanks to Teri [Teri Brandon, Nikitha's English teacher] for all her support from the very beginning. She was amongst the first to get to the auditorium - it meant a lot to Nikitha having Teri there. Also, big thanks to Nancy [Nancy Hardison, Nikitha’s advisor] for her support and encouragement, that helped build her confidence. […] Thanks again to you, Peter [York] and all the faculty who have taught her not just spelling words, but skills like perseverance, hard work and confidence.”
Congratulations to Nikitha on her magnificent performance in the Lynchburg area regional spelling bee.
(Parental permission was given for this student's name and likeness to be used together here.)