Fremont Student Earns Spot In Scripps National Spelling Bee

FREMONT, CA — A 13-year-old Fremont teen is one of four Bay Area students who have qualified for a prestigious national spelling bee competition later this month.

Navika Joseph, an 8th grader at William Hopkins Junior High School in Fremont, qualified after winning the San Ramon Valley Rotary Club's Regional Spelling Bee on March 29.

This will be the first time the school sends a representative to the competition, Navika's mother told Patch.

An "academic enthusiast," according to her competition bio, Navika, previously represented her school in the National Science Bowl, National History Bee, National Geography Bee and the National Quiz Bowl.

"She loves reading, and her strength is vocabulary," Navika's mother, Mary Vattavayalil, told Patch. "She started competing in Spelling Bees and Vocabulary Bees through the North South Foundation's competitions."

Navika is also part of her school's student government, Vattavayalil said. The 13-year-old is an ASB officer and serves as a student representative at Fremont Unified School District's board, she added.

When she's not competing, Navika enjoys spending time chatting with friends, reading and "doomscrolling" on YouTube. Her favorite word is milquetoast and her favorite historical figure is Marie Curie, according to her bio.

Three other students, Rithvi Balajee, an 8th-grade student at Stratford Middle School, Aiden Meng, a 7th grader at Orinda Intermediate School in Orinda and Ishana Dashgupta, a 6th grader at BASIS Independent Silicon Valley in Santa Clara, also won and qualified.

The four beat out 59 other students from across the Bay Area.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee will take place May 26-28 in Washington, D.C.

Fizan Zaki, a 13-year-old from Texas, won the competition last year.