Jan. 31, 2020

School Spelling Bee winners advance to regionals 

Five Upper St. Clair students will advance to the 70th Annual Western Pennsylvania Spelling Bee set for Saturday, March 7, 2020, at Robert Morris University’s Yorktown Hall.

To qualify for the regional competition, Raana Parchuri, Baker Elementary School; Ahana Mendhi, Eisenhower Elementary School; Iris Wang, Streams Elementary School; Nikhil Chandran, Boyce Middle School; and Rohan Mehta, Fort Couch Middle School; each finished first in his/her school’s spelling bee. The school-level spelling bees, open to students in grades 4 – 8, were sponsored by the Upper St. Clair Parent Teacher Council.

Students up through grade 8 from throughout a 26-county region will compete at Robert Morris University. The winner of the Western Pennsylvania Spelling Bee will receive an all-expense paid trip to compete at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Bee Week 2020 will take place the week of Memorial Day, May 24 through May 29, at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. 

Upper St. Clair’s school-level results are provided below. 

Baker Elementary School (grade 4)
First Place:  Raana Parchuri, with a winning word of “accordance”
Second Place:  Kavin Senthil Kumar
Third Place:  Nathan Del
Fourth Place:  Sam Cranganu
Fifth Place:  Devnarayan Nair

Eisenhower Elementary School (grade 4)
First Place:  Ahana Mendhi, with a winning word of “suspect”
Second Place:  Aaron Rai
Third Place:  Meera Alabed
Fourth Place:  Rohith Kumar
Fifth Place:  Blake Uffelman 

Streams Elementary School (grade 4)
First Place:  Iris Wang, with a winning word of “sanitized”
Second Place:  Suhavi Singh
Third Place:  Josh DiGennaro
Fourth Place:  Jack Hollingsworth
Fifth Place:  Brianna Meliton 

Boyce Middle School
First Place:  Nikhil Chandran, grade 6, with a winning word of “transmute”
Second Place:  Ryan Katukota, grade 5
Third Place:  Siddharth Nambiar, grade 6
Fourth Place:  Anushka Sen, grade 5
Fifth Place:  Emiliano Sobarzo, grade 6 

Fort Couch Middle School
First Place:  Rohan Mehta, grade 7, with a winning word of “array”
Second Place:  Arnav Kumar, grade 8
Third Place:  Harsh Mali, grade 7
Fourth Place:  Eitan Schwartz, grade 7
Fifth Place:  Rayan Sarwar, grade 8