By Chuck Fieldman
Srinidhi Rao didn’t hold back when asked how she felt after being eliminated on May 30 in the fourth round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C.
“I was devastated,” the Hinsdale Middle School seventh-grader said. “I really wanted to win this year and worked very hard. I put in a lot of effort to prepare for this.”
Srinidhi said she felt very confident entering the competition because she had worked so hard to be as ready as possible. This was not Srinidhi’s first experience in the national spelling bee. She previously competed in 2019 (tied for 51st place) and 2021 (tied for 111th place). She finished tied for 74th place this year.
Going out in the fourth round was especially frustrating for Srinidhi because of the manner in which she was eliminated. Phenolphthalein, an organic compound used medicinally as a cathartic, was the word given to Srinidhi.
She said that Scripps announced a change of rules during a May 23 webinar for spellers on how questions may be asked before spelling.
“They don’t allow international scientific vocabulary questions or prefix and suffix anymore,” Srinidhi said. “My word was a chemical compound, and I couldn’t ask about radicals or alcohol or aldehyde, which are all international scientific vocabulary entries in the Merriam-Webster (dictionary), so I had to quickly spell, using my judgment.”
Srinidhi incorrectly spelled the word, phenylphthalein, meaning she was one letter off.
“I was shocked,” Srinidhi said. “I will work even harder to come back next year and try to be ready for al the uncertainties.” As an eighth-grader next year, Srinidhi will have her final chance to compete.
The national spelling bee began with 231 competitors. Of those, 59 were eliminated in the first round, 32 in the second round, 19 in the third round and 48 in the fourth round. The second round was based on word meaning, while the other rounds were for spelling only.
All spellers completed a 50-question online test of spelling and word meaning in April. The results were not released to the spellers, and results had no bearing on competition outcomes, according to information from Scripps. The results of the test were used by competition officials in leveling the word list.
In qualifying for the 2023 National Scripps Spelling Bee, Srinidhi won the Feb. 22 DuPage County Spelling Bee. She became the winner of the nine-round competition when she spelled preterlabent, which means flowing beside or by, correctly.
The Hinsdale resident also won her school bee and the Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Elementary District 181 competition to advance to the county bee.
Spelling has been somewhat of a passion for Srinidhi, who showed a talent for it at a very young age. When she was two years old, she saw a word on the wall of her father’s office — cardiology — and spelled it, said her mother, Leelaa Rao.
“She could spell, even in the high chair,” Leelaa Rao said.
The National Spelling Bee began in 1925 when nine newspapers joined together to host a spelling bee, according to information from Scripps.
Illinois has had two champions, in 1931 and 1985. Texas has had the most spelling bee champions, 16.
Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
