Aanya Shetty was feeling confident as she waited for her turn on the second day of the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Wednesday.
She knew the majority of the words posed to the other contestants, but when her chance came, it was an unfamiliar Persian word: B-A-R-S-O-M, defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “a bundle of sacred twigs or metal rods used by priests in Zoroastrian ceremonies.”
“I’m not very familiar with Persian, and I was very, very confused,” Aanya said in a phone interview afterward. She said she asked for alternative pronunciations, but that didn’t help.
“I just winged it,” she said.
For the second year, Aanya made it to the quarterfinals of the national bee in Washington, D.C. On Tuesday, she made it through three rounds — becoming one of 121 quarterfinalists by spelling H-E-X-A-P-O-D, a six-legged creature, correctly.
Last year, Aanya, a rising eighth grader at John Warner Middle School, made it to the fifth round. She has one more year of eligibility for the national bee and said she hopes to compete again.
Aanya’s go-to study tactic is to become as familiar as possible with Merriam-Webster, which is where all the words are pulled from. Her favorite way to practice is multitasking while her parents quiz her. Sometimes, she hoverboards around the living room while spelling words, rapid-fire.
For now, though, Aanya said she is relieved to be done and hopes to rest for a few days before heading home. And her strategy for next year is pretty straightforward.
“I’ll try to cover the whole dictionary,” she said.
When asked if her older sister, former two-time regional champion and national contender Jiya Shetty, was helping coach her, Aanya laughed.
“Where’d you get this information?” she asked. “She’s in high school now, so I don’t think she could find the time to teach me.”