The City of Cupertino’s Youth Activity Board held its sixth annual Cupertino Spelling Bee at the Community Hall on Saturday, Jan 18. The event was split into two parts: the second to third-grade competition from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and the fourth and fifth-grade competition from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Audience members could watch the event by either paying $5 or donating to a canned food drive for the West Valley Homeless Shelter. The event was organized by YAB, which includes a group of teen volunteers who work to create year-round events for all Cupertino residents.
The Spelling Bee was organized into a series of rounds where contestants were given a word to spell. If spelled correctly, the student would proceed to the next round and if not, the student would return to the audience. The first competition for first to third-graders had around 20 participants. After 17 rounds, third-grader Saisha Jhanb was crowned the spelling bee champion, with third-grader Vihaan Dora being runner-up.
After a break, the second competition began around 3:30 p.m., also having 20 participants. After 15 rounds, an intense “spell-off” final took place between contestants Nandini Nagarajan and Valentina Chen. Each of the contestants were given a word, and if it was spelled incorrectly, the other contestant would win by spelling that word and an additional word correctly. Chen concluded the competition by spelling the word “individualize,” being crowned first place, with Nagarajan as the runner-up. The organizers gave Lego sets and snap-circuit kits to the winners, and every contestant received a certificate and participation award.
Jhanb expressed her nervousness during the competition, especially near the final round, but was very happy with the outcome. She explained that she used multiple practice sheets and drilled each word until she got it correct to prepare for the competition. Similarly, Dora also used various methods of his own to practice.
“I was kind of half-nervous but half-excited,” Dora said. “I practiced on my Amazon Alexa and did a lot of practice sheets. I just tried my best and I’m proud.”
YAB members Chelsea Lau, Nichole Go and Daniel Chu judged the event, while YAB member Anika Mukherjee emceed. Senior and YAB member Nishchay Jaiswal described the planning as very meticulous, with details down to the minute planned out for the event.
“The YAB was responsible for both organizing and judging the event as well as creating the word lists for the participants,” Jaiswal said. “Not only did this event help elevate hard-working youth, but it also raised money for the West Valley Homeless Shelter. It was really exciting to see a lot of youth in Cupertino come out and participate in this event.”