Five USC Students Advance To State Spelling Bee

UPPER ST. CLAIR, PA - Five Upper St. Clair students will advance to the 69th Annual Western Pennsylvania Spelling Bee slated for March 9 at Robert Morris University.

To qualify for the regional competition, Avantika Palayekar, Baker Elementary School; Siddharth Kumar, Eisenhower Elementary; Ava Liu, Streams Elementary School; Shriya Narasimhan, Boyce Middle School; and Priyanka Palayekar, Fort Couch Middle School; each finished first in his-her school’s spelling bee. The school-level spelling bees, open to students in grades 4 – 8, were sponsored by the Upper St. Clair Parent Teacher Council.

Students up through grade 8 from throughout a 26-county region will compete at Robert Morris University. The winner of the Western Pennsylvania Spelling Bee will receive an all-expense paid trip to compete at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington in May.

Upper St. Clair’s school-level results:

Baker Elementary School (grade 4)

• First Place: Avantika Palayekar with a winning word of "chloroform"

• Second Place: Saara Iyer

• Third Place: Vivian Sliski

• Fourth Place: Vedant Naik

• Fifth Place: Molly Biedrzycki

Eisenhower Elementary School (grade 4)

• First Place: Siddharth Kumar with a winning word of "writhing"

• Second Place: Augusta Bottonari

• Third Place: Aidan McGrath

• Fourth Place: Aidan Coulehan

• Fifth Place: Will Mecs

Streams Elementary School (grade 4)

• First Place: Ava Liu with a winning word of “bronchitis”

• Second Place: Madalyn Burchill

• Third Place: Preston McLeod

• Fourth Place: Elaina Guarino

• Fifth Place: Alex Wise

Boyce Middle School

• First Place: Shriya Narasimhan with a winning word of "Confucian"

• Second Place: Nikhil Chandran

• Third Place: Eitan Schwartz

• Fourth Place: Jackie Sharp

• Fifth Place: Rohan Mehta

Fort Couch Middle School

• First Place (for the second year in a row): Priyanka Palayekar, grade 8, with a winning word of “libertarian.”

• Second Place: Arnav Kumar, grade 7.

• Third Place: Anushka Patil, grade 7.

• Fourth Place: Keshav Narasimhan, grade 8.

• Fifth Place: Roshith Nadimpalli, grade 7.

Photo: Getty Images.

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