Local Spelling Bee Champ Honored for Trip to Nationals

When Snigdha Nandipati knew how to spell a word, her dad could tell.

"I could see from her face," said Krishnarao Nandipati, the father of the San Diego County Spelling Bee champion from Francis Parker School. "Something glows there."

And even after falling short at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. last week (Snigdha came in tied for 27th out of 11 million nationwide), the glow is still there.

On Tuesday, students and staff at Francis Parker School in San Diego held a morning ceremony to celebrate the seventh grader's spelling prowess.

In the midst of the celebration, she challenged them—on the spot—to a spelling bee. It only took one round to knock three challengers out.

Snigdha's friends presented her with flowers and balloons, saying the school is lucky to have her and everyone is proud of what she's done. Her parents said they are proud, too.

"To the level she reached, we are very happy," her father said, echoed by the girl's mother, Madhavi.

Snigdha, who lives in Rancho Peñasquitos, made it to the fifth round at the nationals, tripping up on the word "kerystic," which she spelled with an "i" instead of a "y."

"I was actually a little disappointed because that word was on my list, but I went too fast. I rushed through the spelling and I didn't think about it enough," she said.

But even with the loss, it was a good experience to meet spellers from around the world and learn words from their languages, she said.Of 11 million student competitors, 275 made it to nationals. Snigdha, who won the county spelling bee after emerging atop her school's competition, was the last Californian standing in the fifth round.

The teen said she'll be back for more next year, with the support of her peers who cheered her on Tuesday.

"This is really special. I enjoyed it. That was really nice of them to do this for me," Snigdha said.

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