Nimitz student to rep ECISD in National Bee
Apr. 14—Nimitz Middle School seventh-grader Ajay Gundlapalli will be heading to the Scripps National Spelling Bee May 30-June 1 in National Harbor, Maryland.
Gundlapalli said he has tried to get in the bee before. His sister, Anika Gundlapalli, has also represented Nimitz in the national bee several times.
"My sister did it and of course my parents encouraged me a lot. And I also wanted to see if I can do it just like my sister, especially since I'd already tried," Gundlapalli said.
Most likely he will keep competing in the National Bee. He noted that the regional bee was pretty tough and had some "formidable spellers."
He added that he feels he's better at studying than spelling.
He feels "very excited" to make the national event and has been studying an hour a day and longer on weekends. Odessa's Shijay Sivakumar, a regional spelling bee winner who got ninth place the National Bee, is also helping Gundlapalli.
His family and his sister help him drill the words. Learning the roots helps him in school, especially reading books and STAAR passages.
"I'm practicing the study list they give, which (has) some of the regional words in it. I'm also studying roots so that way I can find out how to solve a word piece by piece," 13-year-old Gundlapalli said.
At the National Bee, Gundlapalli said he's looking forward to meeting the other spellers.
He added that it's very exciting because it will be the first time he'll be on TV.
Anika has offered valuable advice.
"She tells you to stay calm and think about your word before you spell it; ask for all of the information," Gundlapalli said.
Ajay's parents are Dr. Sai Gundlapalli and Dr. Meghana Gillala.
"We're excited. He worked really hard to get there. It was hours and hours of working during the snow day that we got ... so he did put in a lot of work and I'm happy for him that he made it," Gillala said.
"There's got to be something you can do in middle school and really there aren't that many things that you can keep yourself busy to progress academically in middle school and that's one of the important ones so we do encourage them," Gillala said.
She has learned with Ajay as he's studying.
"Doing the words with him and checking the words I've learned lots of pronunciations of words I've never heard of before," Gillala said.
She added that she's very confident that Ajay will do well.
"He's putting in the work every day. ... Whenever he works hard, there's always a good result so as long as he's putting in the hours and putting in the work I know he'll succeed," Gillala said.
