If the endings of the DuPage County and suburban Cook County spelling bees seemed familiar, it’s because both competitions had the same winners as a year ago.
Eighth-graders Adi Badlani of Butler Junior High in Oak Brook and Mira Dedhia of McClure Junior High in Western Springs, both repeated as regional spelling bee champions to earn another trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. That experience runs May 28 to June 2 in National Harbor, Maryland. ComEd sponsors and covers all expenses for the local winners and one parent.
Mira was the last contestant standing Tuesday in a field of 11 from suburban Cook County at the regional competition at McClure, which also included seventh-grader Ethan Ayersman from St. John of the Cross in Western Springs and eighth-grader Ella Fix from St. Francis Xavier in La Grange.
In the 17th round, Mira correctly spelled “emancipated” to win.
Despite advancing to the national bee a year ago, Mira wasn’t taking anything for granted.
“I definitely was nervous,” she said. “I’m in eighth grade, so it’s my last year of eligibility. I kept reminding myself to relax.”
Mira said she felt happiness and relief when she won.
“I set high expectations for myself and would have been slightly upset if I hadn’t won, but I know luck is part of it, too,” she said. “You can know every single word, except one, and if you get that one word you don’t know, you can be eliminated.”
Adi competed in a field of 27 students, among them fifth-graders Kaitlyn Jin from Prospect School in Clarendon Hills, Atman Balakrishnan from The Lane School in Hinsdale, and Edward Turner from Maercker Intermediate School in Westmont, and eighth-grader Frank Finnegan from Eisenhower Junior High in Darien.
Adi’s winning word was “yawmeter.”
“I felt pressure because it’s my last time for being in this, and it can be pretty random with what happens,” he said. “I had fun last year at the national bee and am looking forward to the experience again.”
Adi said his goal is to make it to the national finals and, hopefully, land a top 10 finish.
“I’m going to study a lot, especially for the written test, which is very hard,” he said. “I think knowing what to expect because I was there last year is more important than actually studying. Being familiar with the whole process will be very helpful this year.”
Mira said she plans to spend one to two hours on school days and two to three hours on weekend days studying in preparation for the national bee. She has some very qualified help, as her mother, Lekshmi Nair, competed in 1988-1990.
“My mom is very helpful,” Mira said. “She’s very supportive, as is the rest of my family, but she doesn’t push me.”
Mira pushes herself to prepare and said she plans to do so more this year. Both she and Adi failed to advance to the finals a year ago and were eliminated based on their performances on a written test given after preliminary onstage rounds.
“It was an incredible experience last year, and I’m really looking forward to being there again,” Mira said. “I think being there last year will help because I know much better what to expect.”
Twitter @chuckwriting
