[A]s a nor’easter whirled outside Main Street Middle School in Montpelier on Tuesday, seventh-grader Raghav Dhandi, 12, was granted permission to leave class for a few minutes to talk about representing the school in the Vermont Scripps Spelling Bee.
It’s his second chance at the spelling bee, which starts at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 21, at Saint Michael’s College in Winooski. (The bee was postponed from March 14 due to weather.) Dhandi placed third in the state last year.
Dhandi said he is more prepared this year than he was last year. He has been practicing spelling words with his mom for a half hour a day.
Dhandi’s grin turned into a huge smile when he spoke about what he wants to be when he grows up: a nuclear physicist.
His dream college is Harvard, which he said he found while looking up Ivy League schools.
Dhandi said the secret to his spelling skills is how much he reads — at least 40 to 50 pages a day.
“I love to read. I started reading at three. I think as I am reading I am subconsciously absorbing words, learning to spell,” he said.
His personal literary canon ranges from Harry Potter and Percy Jackson to non-fiction books on — what else? — nuclear physics.
Reading is at the heart of the bee itself. Now in its 90th year, the annual contest of words known as the Scripps National Spelling Bee was started by the Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky, as a way to promote literacy and appreciation for the English language. Students compete first in their home states.
Each year the state event is hosted by a news organization. This year it is VTDigger.org, the first online-only publication ever to sponsor the event in the state.
The winner of the state tournament will go on to represent Vermont in Washington, D.C.
Dhandi said he is excited at the thought of going to Washington to compete.
If the rest of the Vermont Scripps Spelling Bee competitors are anything like Dhandi, Harvard better set aside a few seats.
