West Lafayette student prepares for national spelling bee

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — This year's winner of the 2023 Scripps Regional Spelling Bee of Northwest Indiana is 10-year-old Sharanya Kar, a fifth-grader at West Lafayette Intermediate School.

While this year's bee was not Sharanya's first, it is the first time she has won the regional competition.

"I was a bit surprised at first," Sharanya said. "But then I had this huge explosion of happiness after that. And I was a little bit dumbstruck, to be honest, after they declared that I won. But I was really happy, and I was also a little (exhilarated)."

Last year, when in the fourth grade, Sharanya placed third in the regional spelling bee.

More:Sunnyside sixth-grader honored as champion for Riley Children's Foundation

The spelling bee experience

Sharanya set her eyes on the Scripps Spelling Bee competition two years before her first competition.

"I also want to tremendously thank Shayari Shanti," Sharanya said. "The first time I learned about the National Spelling Bee was when I saw her interview at around second grade. And she inspired me.

"I was already a big reader by then, and I was like, 'Well, it's such a great thing for a big readers like me,'" she said. "And I like spelling. And I really want to do this as soon as I'm eligible. So then in fourth grade, I entered the competition."

For this year's competition, according to Sharanya's father, Wreeto Kar, she began studying the provided list of words for the competition about three months beforehand. But, for the last few rounds, the competition utilized words that were not provided to the participants beforehand.

"There was 16 rounds (in the competition)," Wreeto said. "And the last three rounds were between her and (Joey) Finnerty, who (was in) second (place), who was also the champion last year. And during those rounds, they moved out of the list. That's when they went beyond those 4,000 words that (are provided)."

Next steps: the National Spelling Bee

Sharanya's victory in the regional competition makes her eligible to move on to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which will be held in May.

"I (won) a medal and, most importantly, I got a trip to Washington, D.C., to participate in the National Spelling Bee," Sharanya said. "And plus, there are excursions across D.C. ... and they'll provide all the money and everything for me and my dad (to go to Washington, D.C.)."

Winning the National Spelling Bee in May would mean big things for Sharanya, especially as that would make her only the second West Lafayette national winner in history - behind Sameer Mishra who championed in 2008.

The champion wins $50,000, a commemorative medal and the coveted Scripps Cup trophy. A meeting with the president and their picture on the following year's Scripps's learning materials are also included with a national victory.

"Harini Logan, the 2022 winner, she went on multiple TV shows," Sharanya said. "And she went on multiple interviews. She's all over the spelling bee website. So, it'll be really big for whoever wins.

"It would be a dream come true (to win the national competition)," Sharanya continued. "Definitely a whole new fantasy will open up if I do win."

More:St. Patrick's Day: Where to be and what to do this holiday

Prep work for spelling bees

Preparing to compete in a spelling bee goes beyond just memorizing words, Wreeto and Sharanya said.

Studying different languages, the origins of words' suffixes and prefixes and reading a lot of materials are also very important for competition.

"This preparation is not a one-off thing," Wreeto said. "She reads a lot of books. You cannot just memorize words.

"I think the intuition part is very important, that gut feeling, if you will. But that can only come if you are reading enough."

"Yes, you need a strong memory," Sharanya said. "But it's not just going to work with word memorization. You need study root words, and then you need to study different languages. What different sounds mean in different languages.

"And you need to study and learn different things by reading books, too. It's not going to work if you're not a good reader," she said.

Participants in the Scripps Spelling Bee study words in languages that they may be asked to spell including Sanskrit, Spanish, Latin, German, French, Portuguese, Japanese and others.

Sharanya's regime as she prepares for the National Spelling Bee involves intense studying.

"(It's) very, very vigorous," Sharanya said. "Most importantly, you have to know the stems and roots of the different languages. So if you come across a word that you don't know at the bee, then you're able to (try to) spell it even if you don't know it."

Wreeto explained that there is no list of words provided to the competitors ahead of time for the national competition.

How the Spelling Bee helps Sharanya for the future

"I want to study psychiatry," Sharanya said. "I realize that's going to be a lot of work, but that's why the bee is very helpful for budding doctors and scientists, because it requires hard work and effort and a lot of dedication. Because if you're not going to dedicate yourself to it, it's just not going to work out."

Margaret Christopherson is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email her at mchristopherson@jconline.com and follow her on Twitter @MargaretJC2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Sharanya Kar is heading to the National Spelling Bee competition