< Back to front page Text size – +

U-p-b-e-a-t: Bedford girl weathers semifinal loss at spelling bee

E-mail|Link|Comments () June 4, 2010 05:31 PM

By Stefanie Geisler, Globe Correspondent

How do you spell success? For 10-year-old Shivani Angappan of Bedford, it's getting to the semifinals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Scripps National Spelling Bee photo

Shivani Angappan

Angappan, a fourth-grader, was eliminated today. Still, she was happy to be the only Massachusetts entrant to make it that far.

"It wasn't that bad," she said by phone from Washington, where the bee is taking place. "After all, it was only my first year. I have four more years to go" before aging out of the competition.

Angappan got tripped up by the word pneumonectomy, which is the surgical removal of a lung.

"I kind of blanked out," she said. "I got confused with the Latin word numen, which means the power of a deity in a certain place. I spelled the wrong word."

Out of 273 total entrants, Angappan was one of only 48 who made it to the semis.

She received a perfect score in the first round Wednesday by correctly spelling all 50 words in a written test. On Thursday, she completed the second and third rounds by spelling the words pharaoh and synoecious (having both male and female flowers in the same blossom cluster).

"That was easy," said Angappan, who is home-schooled. "The rest was too hard."

She said she became interested in spelling bees after watching one at age 4. Two years later, in 2006, she won the Jack and Jill National Spelling Bee in Indianapolis.

She went on to win three other national competitions, including the Macy's Spelling Bee last year.

So what is Angappan's secret? "I read a lot," she said.

She also studies Latin, French, and Tamil, a language spoken in Sri Lanka and India, to help her recognize word roots, she said.

Angappan has the full support of her parents. Her mother, Selvi Guharaj, 36, is her coach.

"We are so grateful that she could make it this far," said her father, Sakthi Angappamudali, 45. "I'm so impressed with her."

If the family can find a sponsor for next year's competition, Angappan said she will be happy to compete again.