Shijay Sivakumar achieved his goal of making the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee and got some perks along the way.
He and his parents and sister got to take a White House tour, attend an awards banquet and farewell party. Sivakumar tied for ninth place in the bee getting out on the word connaraceous correctly. He said it is a genus of plant.
Sivakumar was one of 12 finalists.
“I’ve already gotten two medals, but I think the cash prize is about $2,000,” Sivakumar said Friday.
The 14-year-old attended Bowie Middle School and will head to Odessa High School in the fall.
He added that he thought getting the experience was “really surreal” because he has dreamed about it since he started spelling.
This is the third year he has qualified for the national bee and the last year he could participate.
“… I’m just grateful for the opportunity to finally get that chance. I knew most of the words in the round I got out. I think I just got the hardest word in the round. Luck plays a part in the bee,” Sivakumar said.
“I definitely was expecting an easier word than I actually got,” he added.
Contestants were asked vocabulary questions, too, but with his preparation, he was ready.
“I’m really happy with how I did. My minimum goal was to make the finals and I’m glad I did that. But … what I really wanted to do is just do my best and give it my all. I’m glad I didn’t … get out on a word that I’d seen many times and I flubbed it or something. It was a tough word and I’m glad that it was a tough word and I didn’t get out so easily,” Sivakumar said.
His sister, who attended Carver Center in Midland, was out in round 3.
“But she spelled correctly in Round 1 and answered her vocab question right in Round 2,” Sivakumar said. “She’s only getting started. …”
He had a chance to talk to the other finalists afterwards.
“We all talked afterwards and we actually were there the whole day doing interviews and all sorts of media stuff. We were definitely seeing each other all day,” Sivakumar said.
He added that everyone was really nice.
“… I think people think we all have big egos and we’re all unfriendly or something, but no, everyone is really nice. We’re all really good friends, too,” Sivakumar said.
Harini Logan, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from San Antonio, was the winner after a spell off. It was her fourth year competing.
Sivakumar said going to the White House is “pretty amazing.”
“I wasn’t expecting that at all,” he said.
His mom, Jayanthi Sivakumar said it’s not only the spellers that will go, but the parents and siblings.
“… It’s an honor for us to … tour the White House,” she said.
She was also pleased with how Shijay did in the bee.
“I think Shijay did amazing. We are really proud of him and he’s done incredible. We are really proud of his spelling bee journey the past four years. He’s come a long way. This is best performance,” Jayanthi Sivakumar said.
Both said it is terrifying every round.
“It starts from preliminaries and I don’t think people realize that. In finals, it’s really nerve-racking. The crowd, the audience is huge. The announcers are there. It’s live TV, so it’s definitely tough to keep check of your nerves, but I think I did a good job of that overall,” Shijay said.
He did that by taking a few deep breaths.
“And when I get my words, I just think about the word and what I can do to get it right. That’s what really I do is just focus on the word and take deep breaths,” he said.
After preliminaries, there was time to study in between a little bit at a time.
“It wasn’t a lot of time, but there was like a couple of hours so I made use of that. Before the finals, there was not really a lot of time because of all the media and stuff, but I tried to review a little bit here and there,” Shijay said.
He said this is not something he’s ever going to forget.
“I’ll always cherish this. No matter what happened, I’m still really happy to be in the finals,” Shijay said.
“I’d just like to thank ECISD for supporting me all my years of spelling and thank the community of Odessa and Midland,” he added.
