Indian American tween wins Delaware State Spelling Bee contest

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NEW YORK – An Indian American tween, Maanvi Sarwadi, won the annual State Spelling Bee content in Delaware with the word “phyton,” according to a Delaware State News report.

It took Sarwadi, a 12-year-old seventh-grader from Caravel Academy, four hours and 25 straight correct spellings to get the winning trophy in her hands.

“I’m a little impatient. I almost thought it would never end. It’s hard to think that I might be the next one to go every time my turn would come up, but it never did,” she told Delaware State News.

She was up against 76 competitors from throughout the state and will be going to the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. in May.

Sarwadi’s mother Kavita told WDEL that her daughter worked extremely hard over the previous year to get back to the top and she was happy to see it all pay off.

“It’s a proud moment as a parent, because she has put a lot of effort into it. It was a team effort. The whole family got in, and we used to quiz her, and it was a team effort,” she said.

Annie Marie Eanes, the coordinator of the spelling bee, told Delaware State News that this was the longest competition that St. Mark’s High has hosted in 10 years.

“Slurvian,” “keeshond,” “pizzicato,” and “menhaden” were among the last few words that Sarwadi spelled correctly.

William Doyle of Middletown’s Everett Meredith Middle School came in second while Raphael Kim of Newark Charter Junior High came in third.

The words were pronounced by Dave Skocik, who has been pronouncing the words since 1991.