Suwanee Student a W-I-N-N-E-R

Asad Ladhani, 14, an eighth-grade student at North Gwinnett Middle in Suwanee, took home the big trophy Saturday at the 2011 Gwinnett County Spelling Bee. He triumphed over 89 students, who made it to the countywide competition by winning spelling bees at their respective schools.

The competition, sponsored by the Gwinnett County Association of Educators,  was at Central Gwinnett High in Lawrenceville.

Ladhani said he had difficulties remembering the spelling of one word. “I kept thinking was it an 'i' or an 'e'... I've been doing this since fourth grade. I won in '08’ and '09, and this is my third year."

The coordinator of the spelling bee was Louis Meir, a GCPS teacher, and the word caller was Alan Hachbaum, also a teacher in GCPS.  

The spelling bee contestants were elementary- and middle-school students from 92 schools in Gwinnett County.

Nicholas McCormick, a 9-year-old fourth grader at Level Creek Elementary in Suwanee, showed up prepared by wearing the reasons why he said he won at the local level. “I was wearing my good luck charms.” McCormick was dressed in a plaid shirt and wore a charm, given to him by his grandfather, around his neck that he said came from the Sea of Galilee in Egypt.

All parents were asked to leave the room and listen to the written bee through the hallway amplifiers during the first round. The students were assigned numbers as they completed the written portion of the spelling competition.

The first word the students were asked to write was “ascertain”.  They were given the word pronounced, the word’s origin, definition and a sentence using the word.

Once the students completed two portions of the written bee, 12 students advanced to the final round which required them to spell the words orally:  (#1) Christy Daniel-Roberts ES, (#2) Sabarish Sainathan-Five Fork MS, (#3) Byron Moon-Sweetwater MS, (#4) Matias Herbener-Duluth MS, (#5) Matthew Chen -Pinckneyville MS, (#6) Ryan Chen-Crews MS, (#7) Ladhani -North Gwinnett MS, (#8) Keshaw Kalathoor – Hull MS, (#9) Samedh Garimella-Parsons ES, (#10) Shruthi Santhanam-Suwanee ES, #(11) Alex Norton-Trickum MS, (#12) Ansel Ahabue-Arcado ES

Sabarish Sainathn began the oral portion of the bee by spelling “T-o-t-a-l-i-t-y” correctly.

 After four rounds with the words corrigible, armageddon, cardiomegaly, dermatophyte, espial, numismatics, lorgnette and nyctalopia, the competition was narrowed down to two contestants: Santhanam and  Ladhani.

Santhanam became runner up after misspelling the word “tessitura”, leaving the win open to Ladhani, who spelled “T-E-S-S-I-T-U-R-A” and “D-I-C-H-R-O-M-A-T-I-S-M” correctly .

“ We have a winner of our spelling bee!” Instantly Ladhani’s face, which wore a straight look throughout the competition, suddenly flashed into a smile when he heard the word caller, Hachbaum, make that statement.

When asked about his strategy and what advice he could give to those wanting to win the spelling bee, Ladhni said, “I was reading the dictionary sometimes. ... Just try and don’t give up on what ever you want to do. ... My parents support me through whatever I want to do.”

The 12 contestants who made it to the final round will move on to the District 3 bee, which will be held Feb. 26, 10 a.m., at North Gwinnett High.

For results of the GCPS/GCAE 2011 spelling bee, parents of contestants may contact the local schools. The local school coordinator can provide each contestant with a copy. The results will not contain names.  The results will only be listed by the number assigned to each contestant.

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