Spelling s-u-c-c-e-s-s: Camarillo eighth-grader shines at national bee
After being stung by a snake’s viperous vowel, Ventura County champion speller Arth Dalsania helped serve up an antidote Monday.
The eighth-grader from CAPE Charter School in Camarillo survived 10 rounds at the Scripps National Spelling Bee last week before being nipped by the Asian snake known as a “katuka.” He made it to the nationally televised finals on Thursday and finished eighth among the country’s best 231 spellers – one of the highest Ventura County finishes ever in the iconic bee.
On Monday, his first day back at school, Dalsania and his family treated classmates, teachers and all of CAPE School to soft-serve ice cream delivered to the Camarillo campus.
“It’s a way to say thank you to all my friends for all their support,” said Arth (pronounced earth).
Competing in the bee for the second time in three years, the 14-year-old from Camarillo went on an impressive run in National Harbor, Maryland. He nailed 10 words – “catarrh,” “sarcophagus” “perinatal,” “mythologem,” “cavort,” “congelifraction,” “quiescent,” “anabibazon,” “papoula” and “brachypterous.”
His father, oncologist Dr. Chirag Dalsania, mother Khushbu Dalsania and 11-year-old sister Aarna Dalsania cheered in person as Arth spelled his way to the 11-person finals. Friends, staff from CAPE and others followed the proceedings via watch parties, posting their hurrahs on social media.
Arth, sponsored in the bee by SAGE Publishing of Thousand Oaks, said he figured out early focusing on the television cameras was a mistake. The same goes with the nerves that made his legs shake a moment before approaching the speller’s microphone.
“I’m nervous right before. When it’s my turn, I’m not really nervous because you’re locked in,” he said.
It was the “u” that sounds like “uh” in “katuka” that ended his competition. Arth guessed wrong and spelled it “kataka.”
Still, he made it further than he expected, competing against spellers who have been studying much of their lives. Arth’s preparations ramped up in the sixth-grade for the 2021 national bee. Competing virtually, he finished tied for 43rd place. This year's bee was won by eighth-grader Dev Shah of Largo, Florida.
Now Arth is looking forward to August and his next challenge: Freshman class at Newbury Park High School. The lessons he learned in spelling will likely help.
“The great thing about spelling is the competition with others is second to the competition with yourself,” he said. “It’s just focus on your word and do your best.”
Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com or 805-437-0255.
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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ventura County teen shines at Scripps National Spelling Bee
