By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News
Four local students were among 47 who advanced to the Austin Regional Spelling Bee on Sunday, an event that was hosted by the West Austin Chamber of Commerce and part of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Canyon Ridge Middle School’s Akash Shah, River Place Elementary’s Ninaad Nair, Laura Welch Bush Elementary’s Avery LaRusso, and Steiner Ranch Elementary’s Mary Kate Liechty all were part of the regional event at on March 25 at the Zach Topfer Theatre.
These local students were winners from a group of 103 local school spelling bees in a 10-county zone: Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays, Lee, Milam, Travis and Williamson.
The 47 advancing students were selected by their scores from an online spelling and vocabulary test administered by Scripps.
Local Steiner Ranch resident Nihar Janga, co-champion of the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee, served as the “spellebrity” judge and with Kate DiPronio of Cedar Valley Middle School and Cheryl Sawyer of University of Texas Austin.
Krisiti Nordin, River Place resident and owner of Steiner’s Cups & Cones, served as the record keeper. Tom Buckley, UT department of rhetoric and writing professor, was the event pronouncer. Steiner’s Paul O’Brien was the event moderator.
Austin ISD’s Pranathi Jammula, of Kealing Middle School, is the winner of the Austin Regional Spelling Bee, and the runner up is Pranav Nandakumar, of the Magellan International School.
Jammula‘s winning word was “coriaceous”.
“The bee went for 12 rounds with Pranav and Pranathi battling it out for the last six rounds,” said Morgan Briscoe, president of the West Austin Chamber.
Jammula receives an expense paid trip to the 2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington DC in May.
Leander ISD bee contenders
Block House Creek Elementary – Emory Rodgers
Camacho Elementary – Meadow Stevens
Canyon Ridge Middle School – Akash Shah
Cedar Park Middle School – Eshan Bharadwaj
Charlotte Cox Elementary – Natalie Vuong
Laura Welch Bush Elementary – Avery LaRusso
Reed Elementary – Julianne Choe
River Place Elementary – Ninaad Nair
Running Brushy Middle School – Rachel Poycattle
Rutledge Elementary – Natasha Nahvi
Steiner Ranch Elementary – Mary Kate Liechty
Westside Elementary – Kenzie Vo
