It took 11 rounds and 111 words to find one champion.
Simran Sanders, a sixth grader from Jamesville-DeWitt Middle School, smiled from ear to ear as she correctly spelled her final word: “plutonomy,” a noun defined as “political economy, economics.”
Second place went to Caydence Snakard, a fifth grader from Immaculate Conception School, who misspelled “vehemence” in the 10th round.
Two dozen spellers from schools across Central New York competed Saturday in The Post-Standard | syracuse.com Spelling Bee, held in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. The 90-minutes oral competition was recorded and will be shown on syracuse.com on April 1.
Related article: See the 78 CNY students who went to the national spelling bee since 1947 (list)
Success in the early rounds is tied to memorization of practice lists of several hundred words. As students advance, they must apply their knowledge of language concepts and patterns to correctly spell any one of more than 470,000 words in the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary.
Simran Sanders, a 6th grader at Jamesville-Dewitt Middle School, won the Post-Standard | Syracuse.com Spelling Bee 2023 by spelling plutonomy correctly. The bee was held on Saturday, Feb. 4 at the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. (Alaina Potrikus | apotrikus@sryacuse.com)
Sanders came in second place in last year’s oral competition, misspelling in the seventh round “disciform,” a word meaning flat and rounded in shape.
The word stuck with her all year, she said.
She started her preparation by writing down the practice word list - not once, but twice.
To hone her skills, she turned to a computer program created by her father that read each word aloud. They used Google to ensure correct pronunciation of more difficult words.
In between basketball practice and homework, Sanders will now turn her attention to the next level of competition, the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee in May at National Harbor, Maryland.
She credited her parents, Shane and Bhavneet Walia Sanders, for their dedication to the competition. Her seven-year-old sister Nanki also took part in practice sessions.
”Even when it would get stressful or I was tired, they just kept helping me and working with me,” she said. “We stuck with it.”
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