Winning Columbia County pupils advance to regional spelling bee, en route to nationals

Joe Hotchkiss, Augusta Chronicle
·1 min read
Winners of the 2023-2024 Columbia County School District Spelling Bee were Raghav Thumsi (from left), second place, Blue Ridge Elementary; Sreeya Lakkimsetti, district champion, Stevens Creek Elementary; and Riddhi Boga, third place, River Ridge Elementary.
Winners of the 2023-2024 Columbia County School District Spelling Bee were Raghav Thumsi (from left), second place, Blue Ridge Elementary; Sreeya Lakkimsetti, district champion, Stevens Creek Elementary; and Riddhi Boga, third place, River Ridge Elementary.

Three of Columbia County's top spellers will represent the school district in the regional round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Sreeya Lakkimsetti, a fifth-grader at Stevens Creek Elementary School, correctly spelled "surrealist" after 10 competitive rounds to win the 2023-2024 Columbia County School District Spelling Bee on Wednesday at Lakeide Middle School in Evans.

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Sreeya's brother Sai won the same county bee last year to advance to the national contest in Washington, D.C., where he tied for 57th place.

Placing second in the county bee was third-grader Raghav Thumsi from Blue Ridge Elementary School. Riddhi Boga, a River Ridge Elementary School fifth-grader, placed third.

All three pupils will compete at the Region 7 Spelling Bee on Feb. 24 at Putnam County Middle School in Eatonton.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Columbia County pupils' spelling skills send them to regional contest