11/5/2022 0 Comments Balu natarajan![]() ![]() A few of them gathered to take a photograph, documenting a small moment of togetherness - a stark contrast to the playing field of today. Natarajan has the photos to prove it: When he first competed in the Scripps spelling bee in 1983, he remembers only six contestants of Indian descent out of 137 students. ![]() We were just this tiny fraction of the participants.” “We really had no idea that we were doing this for a community. But back in the ’80s, we were just exploring it,” Mr. “Today, we have children and families in our community that are center stage when they go to the Scripps Spelling Bee. Flyers for local bees are handed out at Indian supermarkets, and the activity is spread through word of mouth at temple events. So have spelling bee coaching companies founded by South Asian Americans. Over the past two decades, spelling bees tailored to South Asian children have proliferated. This year, two-thirds of the semifinalists were of South Asian descent, and at least nine of the 11 finalists are of South Asian descent. Since 2008, a South Asian American kid has been named a champion at every Scripps bee. This love of vocabulary has made him one of 11 finalists in this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee, adding him to a long line of South Asian American middle and elementary schoolers who have excelled at the competition. “Nothing can express an idea as effectively as a judicious use of words,” he said by phone from his home in Plano, Texas. But Dhroov Bharatia, 12, has a passion for language. All rights reserved.Eighth graders aren’t generally known as dictionary aficionados. ™ & © 2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. Contestants come from all 50 states and a handful of other countries and range in ages from 8 to 15 years old. This year's Scripps National Spelling Bee features the largest number of competitors in its history. But his championship dreams were dashed that evening when he learned he would not be one of the 41 kids competing in the finals Thursday. My parents are also here to watch this unfold and this is just so special to us - to be able to see and understand what they went through 33 years ago," Natarajan said.Ītman competed Wednesday morning - spelling "vitascope" correctly. He also praised Atman's coach, who has encouraged him not to worry too much about losing - as there is always next year. Natarajan told CNN that he's just excited to see his son make it this far. But he says most of the feedback he has received has been supportive, which encourages him even more. "I've done a lot of hard work and I would love to see it pay off."Ītman has received extra attention this week, thanks to his dad's title. "My father and my hard work are my biggest motivation," Atman said. Atman learns his words by looking them up online. Technology also plays a huge role in spelling bees today.īack then, Natarajan studied by looking up words in an actual dictionary. Now the kids need to know around 30,000 to 80,000 words to win," he said. We had to learn anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 words. "Thirty-three years ago the word bank was a lot smaller. Natarajan, a doctor in Chicago, attributes his nerves to the fact that the spelling competition is nothing like it was when he was 13. "As a parent it's a completely different feeling," said Natarajan, 46. The former national champion says this time around is more stressful. Now Atman's parents - including mom Meenakshi Balakrishnan - and his grandparents are all in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C., to cheer him on as he spells out obscure words much in the way his dad did 33 years ago "And ever since he has been wanting to do it." "When he was just 4 years old, Atman found out I won," Balu Natarajan told CNN. His biggest fan won the 1985 National Spelling Bee, becoming its first Indian-American champion. Just consider Atman Balakrishnan, 12, of Hinsdale, Illinois.Ītman is one of 516 kids who competed this week in the 2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee. They say the a-p-p-l-e doesn't fall far from the t-r-e-e. ![]()
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