The City of Cupertino hosted its seventh annual Cupertino Spelling Bee in the Cupertino Community Hall on Saturday, Jan. 24. The event was split into two divisions, with the second to third grade division taking place from 1 to 3 p.m. and the fourth to fifth grade division taking place from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
The spelling bee was organized by the Cupertino Parks and Recreation Department and the Cupertino Youth Activity Board. During the first competition, each of the 17 participants took turns spelling out their respective word. After 12 rounds, the final two contestants entered a “spell-off.” To win, the contestant had to correctly spell the word their competitor got incorrect, then spell an additional word. Arya Mothe was named the winner of the second to third grade Spelling Bee after correctly spelling “rhythm” and then “cricket.” MVHS junior and President of the Cupertino YAB Saanj Rao describes the preparations for the spelling bee to be logistical and tedious.
“Going into the event, we had to create all of the word lists,” Rao said. “That’s about 300 plus words for fourth and fifth grade and for second and third grade. It takes us over a month to sort through all the words and get the definitions, which takes a lot of detail and perfectionism. Aside from that, we also work on the host materials, and we have many meetings to coordinate with the other judges.”
Cupertino High School senior and Chair of the Cupertino Teen Commission, Anushree Misra, acted as the moderator for the spelling bee. Her role included explaining the rules to participants and facilitating the contest, and organizing the award ceremony, a job she was both nervous and excited about.
“Of course, there can only be one winner, but even people who did not make it to the last round did such an amazing job,” Misra said. “It was impressive to see very young people be passionate about something, and to see that they’re coming out and trying new stuff even when it’s so scary to be up in front of everyone is heartwarming. I know when I was their age, that would be nerve wracking for me.”
The runner-up for the competition was 8-year-old Smera Athare, who enrolled in this spelling bee after previously placing second at Sedgwick Elementary School’s spelling bee. Her mother shares that she studied for this event by reviewing a video of last year’s Cupertino Spelling Bee.
“She is very interested in her spelling,” Athare’s mother said. “She likes to spell every word which she hears, and she tries to spell it according to phonics. We thought it’s a good space for her.”
