Schools
GCPS Spelling Bee Produces a Three-Time Winner
8th grader spells victory at the Gwinnett County Spelling Bee.
The Gwinnett County 2011 spelling bee, sponsored by the Gwinnett County Association of Educators was held Saturday, January 29th at .
Asad Ladhani, 14, an 8th grade student at North Gwinnett Middle took home the big trophy after triumphing over 89 students, who made it to the county wide competition by winning the spelling bee at their schools.
Ladhani said that he had difficulties remembering the spelling of one word, “I kept thinking was it an 'i' or an 'e'….I’ve been doing this since 4th grade. I won in 08’ and 09’, and this is my 3rd year."
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The coordinator of the spelling bee was Louis Meir, a GCPS school teacher and the word caller was Alan Hachbaum, who is also a teacher in GCPS.
The spelling bee contestants were elementary and middle school students from 92 schools in Gwinnett County.
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Madeline (Maddy) Gunawan, 10, a 5th grader at in Lawrenceville, doesn't write and used her keyboard (with the spell check turned off) to complete the written bee. It's no wonder Gunawan progressed to the county level competition; she is in all advance classes at Craig ES.
"Two kids were absent and complained about it not being fair that they didn't get a chance at the spelling bee, so they challenged Maddy, and she still won," said Leslie Grantham, Guanawan's Science teacher.
When the written bee began, all parents were asked to leave the room and listen to the written bee through the hallway amplifiers. The students were assigned numbers as they completed the written portion of the spelling competition.
The 1st word the students were asked to write was “Ascertain”. They were given the word pronounced, the word’s origin, definition and a sentence using the word.
Once the students completed two portions of the written bee, 12 students advanced to the final round which required them to spell the words orally: (#1)Christy Daniel of Roberts ES, (#2)Sabarish Sainathan of , (#3)Byron Moon of , (#4) Matias Herbener of Duluth MS, (#5)Matthew Chen of Pinckneyville MS, (#6)Ryan Chen of , (#7) Asad Ladhani of North Gwinnett MS, (#8) Keshaw Kalathoor of Hull MS, (#9)Samedh Garimella of Parsons ES, (#10) Shruthi Santhanam of Suwanee ES, #(11) Alex Norton of Trickum MS, (#12)Ansel Ahabue of Arcado ES
Sabarish Sainathn began the oral portion of the bee by spelling “Totality” correctly.
After 4 rounds with the words corrigible, armageddon, cardiomegaly, dermatophyte, espial, numismatics, lorgnette and nyctalopia, the competition was narrowed down to two contestants: Shuruthi Santhanam of Suwanee ES, and Asad Ladhani of North Gwinnett MS,
Santhanam became runner up after misspelling the word “tessitura”, leaving the win open to Ladhani who spelled correctly spelled that word as well as "dichromatism."
“We have a winner of our spelling bee!” was announced. Instantly Ladhani’s face, which wore a straight look throughout the competition, flashed into a smile when he heard the word caller, Alan Hachbaum, say those words.
When asked about his strategy and what advice he could give to those wanting to win the spelling bee, Ladhni said, “I was reading the dictionary sometimes. Just try and don’t give up on what ever you want to do. My parents support me through whatever I want to do.”
The 12 contestants who made it to the final round will move on to the District 3 Bee which will be held at 10:00am, February 26 at North Gwinnett High.
For results of the GCPS/GCAE 2011 spelling bee parents of contestants may contact the local schools. The local school coordinator can provide each contestant with a copy. The results will not contain names. The results will only be listed by the number assigned to each contestant.
