Another ‘American Idol’ is crowned
Another American idol was crowned last week in Washington, DC. Her name is Snigdha Nandipati. She's only 14 years old and like Jessica Sanchez, she comes from San Diego, California. Unlike "AI's" Phillip Phillips, however, Snigdha did not need the votes of the TV audience to claim victory. I have no idea whether she's a superb singer but she's definitely a whiz when it comes to spelling. She just won the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee and was awarded $30,000 in cash, a $2,500 U.S. savings bond and a complete reference library, a $5,000 scholarship, $2,600 in reference works, an online language course and a Nook Color. The event was covered live on ESPN.
From a field of 278 elementary school students, the Bee was down to two finalists in Round 11, Snigdha and Stuti Mishra. The two were able to spell their assigned words: "admittatur" (the certificate of admission given in some American colleges) for Snigdha and "chionablepsia" (the condition of snow blindness) for Stuti. In Round 12, Snigdha was asked to spell "arrondissement" which means "the chief administrative subdivision of a department in France." Her spelling was correct.
Stuti was next. Her word was "schwarmerei" which means "excessive, unbridled enthusiasm or attachment." If I were in her position, I would have called it quits right there. But Stuti looked confident as she asked the standard questions about word origin, definition and using the word in a sentence.
After a while, I felt that she was having problems because a lady judge had to call her attention to the time limit. She finally started to spell the word: "S-C-H-W-E". I knew then that she had made a mistake because the word was flashed on the screen. She continued, "R-M-E-R-E-I." Then the dreaded bell sounded, which meant she had misspelled the word. She looked calm because she could still get another chance if her opponent committed an error.
It was Snigdha's turn. Her word was "guetapans" which means "ambush or trap". If she spelled the word correctly, she would be this year's champion speller. She asked the standard questions then spelled the word…correctly. For a few seconds, she just stood there without any reaction, not knowing whether she had won until the audience applauded and the confetti started to rain gradually on her.
Her moment of victory would probably pale in contrast to Kobe Bryant making a three-point shot in the last few seconds to win an NBA championship game. However, the sight of a 14-year-old spelling an unfamiliar word (to me, anyway) like "guetapans" amounted to the same thing.
She was interviewed on stage by an ESPN announcer who asked how she felt when she heard the word assigned to her. She replied, "I knew it. I've seen it before. I just wanted to ask everything I could before I started spelling." Asked how she felt about winning, she answered, "It's a miracle." Finally the interviewer came up with a longish question: What do you want America to know what it takes to be the very best speller in the country" Snigdha's reply: "A lot."
While no Asian-American has ever won "AI," Snigdha is the fifth Indian-American in a row to win the Bee. In the last 14 years, 10 spellers of Indian descent have been crowned champions. Amazingly, this year's and second and third place finishers—Stuti and Arvid Mahankali—also have Indian blood.
While Phillip and Jessica look forward hopefully to a fruitful career in the music industry, Snigdha goes back to Francis Parker School in San Diego, California where she is in eighth grade. What does the future hold for her? Many champions have gone on to graduate from prestigious colleges like Harvard and Yale. Some have become successful doctors, engineers or lawyers. The 2012 champion wants to be a psychiatrist or neurosurgeon someday. That's entirely possible. Peg McCarthy who won in 1978 is a clinical psychologist, while 1951 winner Irving Belz is a psychiatrist.
Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.
