Churchill 7^th Grader Returning to Scripps National Spelling Bee

CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - She said she’d be back, and she meant it.

Samhita Kumar, a seventh-grader at Winston Churchill Middle School in Carmichael, took home first place in the California Central Valley Spelling Bee for the second year in a row and is headed back to D.C. in May to compete once more for the winning title in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Kumar took the regional title last year as a sixth-grader and, although she took 18^th place in the national competition, she saw her dream of going to Washington, D.C. come true.  This time around, Kumar said she wasn’t familiar at all with the word she managed to get right that cinched her second regional title.  But, she says, she just used her intellect, grammar and vocabulary skills to get it right:  O.S.P.H.R.E.S.I.S, a love of odors or smells. 

“I knew the word was Greek in origin, so even though I didn’t know it, I knew it had a “PH” and not a “CC,” which is Italian,” said Kumar, proudly showing off her trophy, which will be permanently displayed in the administration office at her school.  “The words were definitely much, much harder this year than they were last year, but I just took my mind to the zone where I go and I concentrated and I got it.”

Kumar out-spelled seventh-grader Rayhan Kabir from Toby Johnson Middle School in Elk Grove in the final round.  A total of 61 students from Sacramento, Yolo, Solano, Placer, Plumas and Shasta counties competed for the regional title.

Kumar will be accompanied by her parents and brother to D.C. for the Scripps competition, which kicks off May 29.  She said she has no plans to do anything differently this year to prepare, but most assuredly, she will be clocking a lot hours building up her vocabulary and practicing with her parents who have coached her in previous competitions.

“I will be doing a lot of studying and practicing with both of my parents, but other than that, I’m going to just do what I always do to prepare,” Kumar said.

Winston Churchill Principal Mike Dolan said the school’s staff and Kumar’s fellow students could not be more proud of her.

“We are all just over the moon about her second regional win and her second trip to the national competition,” said Dolan.  “She did an amazing job last year and we are extremely excited for her that she’s getting another chance to go and compete.  We’ll see how she does, but either way, she’s made us all very proud.”

Kumar will compete against 11 million spellers from across the country this year for the national title.  As a finalist she’ll have to tackle 56 words just to make it into the championship round.  From there, 12 spellers will move on to the final rounds, with a total of seven making the cut for the winning categories, including the first-place slot.

The Scripps National competition is a 91-year old tradition launched in 1925 as a literacy push.  Ananya Vinay, then a 12-year old from Fresno, took the 2017 national title after correctly spelling the word marocain, which is a dress fabric made with silk and rayon.  She sealed the championship after a grueling 20 rounds, breaking a streak of co-champions and taking home the entire $40,000 prize.