New York Family Wins 5th Spelling Bee

By Minyoung Son

The final round of the bee boiled down to basophilic, as in “base-loving” cells that are stained by basic dyes.

After his opponent tripped over the word meralgia, Srinath Mahankali, 11, spelled his way to one of the two top seats in the 51st Annual Daily News New York City Spelling Bee. He and the previous day’s winner, Sai Vishudi Chandrasekhar, a 13-year-old winner from Queens, will now travel to Washington D.C. in May for the national championship.

“I am really happy that I made this so far,” said Mahankali, a 5th grader at Nathaniel Hawthorne Middle School. It was Mahankali’s first time winning a trophy, but the fifth time for the family. Srinath is a brother of Arvind Mahankali, a four-time local champion and the winner of national bee in 2013.

“I was very nervous while watching him, but now I feel awesome that he made it,” said Vhavani Mahankali, mother of Srinath. “I feel really joyful to finish my brother’s legacy,” Srinath added.

Behind the scenes, there was suspense, tears, and some regrets.

Anil Singh, the second place winner that day, said that he was a little bit disappointed since he had hoped to go to Washington D.C. like he did last year. “Overall I’m still happy that I did well,” he said. “I still got second place. I got an iPad Mini.”

Some students burst into tears. Juan Lopez, a 5th grader at M.S. 128 Mott Hall, packed his bag as soon as the first round was over. “I studied every day to win this competition, but I’m so sad and depressed now,” said Lopez with tears in his eyes. “I’ll try for next year as well.”

Lopez was one of nine students representing the Bronx among 147 spellers in both Thursday and Friday competitions. Many of them made it up to third round.

Jara Medina Febles, a 6th grader at In-Tech Academy in Marble Hill, said that she felt so relieved right after she made it to second round. “When I heard my word, I did not know that word at all,” she said. “So when I heard that I got it right, I was just so excited but we have to be quiet. So I couldn’t really scream out like YEAH!”

“I am so proud of myself,” said Anastasia Michialis, another Bronx student from the Greek American Institute of New York in Pelham Bay. “I didn’t expect I would make this far.”

Michialis explained how she prepared for the competition. “I used my old notes and I also read some of the dictionaries and looked up some videos,” she said. “I’m trying out for next year and want to go to Washington as well!”

It was not only the students who had difficulty with the competition -– so did some of the judges. “It was very hard to judge students,” said Elizabeth Naylor Gutierrez, a coordinator at NYC Department of Education. “When the kids changed the letters I wanted to say, ‘Oh no, don’t do that!’” said Gutierrez, adding that it was also hard for her to see kids being so emotionally involved.

“They did wonderful jobs,” said Gutierrez. “It teaches them perseverance and sustained effort and how to appreciate their fellow student in this competition. They learned how to set a goal and work towards it, practice, and standing up on the stage in front of the folks is wonderful.”