South Hills seventh grader to represent Western Pa. in national spelling bee
The champion of the 73rd annual Western Pennsylvania Spelling Bee was crowned recently after successfully spelling the word “sensitive.”
Raana Parchuri, a seventh grade student at Fort Couch Middle School in Upper St. Clair, will represent the region at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the Washington, D.C., area in May.
Raana’s win came after a competitive process that started with students in grades four through eight participating in spelling bees at their schools across Western Pennsylvania. One champion per school advances to the regional qualifier bee.
This year, 64 local students participated in the regional qualifier, according to organizers. On March 4, the 10 finalists in the regional bee met at the UPMC Events Center on the campus of Robert Morris University for the final. They spelled for more than an hour and a half before determining the champion.
In addition to Raana, those who placed in the top five were: second place: Emily Fisher, an eighth grader from Somerset Area Junior High School; third place: Jane Ross, a sixth grader from Hampton Middle School (Jane was the 2022 Western Pennsylvania Champion); fourth place: Vanya Poddar, a sixth grader from Ingomar Middle School; and fifth place: Muhammad Niazi, an eighth grader from Universal Academy of Pittsburgh.
The competition is open to students who have not passed the eighth grade and turned 15 years old, according to the program’s website.
Along with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Robert Morris University and the Carnegie Science Center serve as sponsors of the regional event.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee, which was started in 1925, is scheduled to take place this year between May 31 and June 2 at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md.