The pressure was on for 11-year-old Manav Parikh as he was given the word “flamboyant” to spell in the first Summer Spelling Bee held at the Secaucus Public Library on Monday, Aug. 20.
After his 12-year-old friend Niketan Baranwal misspelled “chaperone,” it was down to Parikh to spell the word correctly for the winning title.
Before Baranwal’s turn, Abhinav Sirohi was stumped by the word “changeable.” The three boys sat next to one another surrounded by a crowd of former competitors, parents, and caregivers who had patiently sat through more than an hour of spellings.
Three winners
Of the 29 participants ages 8 to 12, only a dozen or so kids remained to watch until the end. All of them had been put to the spelling test and each was eliminated with words like separate, rhythmic, and mischievous.
“F-l-a-m-b-o-y-a-n-t,” spelled Parikh after a short pause.
Local resident Don Evanson, who led the competition, asked him if he was certain, and he responded with a nod.
Parikh went on to win the spelling bee and took home tickets to Turtle Back Zoo as well as a certificate.
For Parikh, he had already been eliminated but was back in the competition after he disputed the word he heard versus the word that was given to him. He told Evanson he heard the word “lighten” when he was asked to spell “lightening.” Because of the confusion, he was given another chance.
“I felt like my heart was going to come out of my mouth.” – Niketan Baranwal
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“He loves it,” said Krishna Parikh, Manav’s mother. “He enjoys spelling.” She confirmed that he spent time studying the dictionary the weekend before the spelling bee to prepare.
She said that he won a spelling bee in second grade and she was happy that he had another opportunity to compete. She hopes to enter him in the national South Asian Spelling Bee competition in the future.
Under p-r-e-s-s-u-r-e
Baranwal won second place and received tickets to Liberty Science Center. Eleven-year-old Abhinav Sirohi won third place and took home tickets to Field Station: Dinosaurs.
“I felt like my heart was going to come out of my mouth,” said Baranwal. “I was very panicked.”
Baranwal said that he was happy to win second place, especially since he didn’t think he was a good speller.
While Sirohi said his favorite words are “undisputed” and “xylophone,” he gave the Reporter the longest “word” she has ever had to write in her notebook: “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.”
According to Oxford Dictionary, it is a lung disease caused by inhaling very fine ash and sand dust. The 45-letter word first appeared in a dictionary supplement in 1939. For some the word is more of a tongue twister than another favorite fictitious word, “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” from the classic film Mary Poppins.
Encouraging kids to spell
“Each year the Rotary Club gives a dictionary to all third grade children [in Secaucus],” said Evanson. He said that he tailored each word to the specific age of the child throughout the competition and began with fourth and fifth grade level words. He also encouraged the youth to play Scrabble at home to improve their word skills.
“You all did very well,” said Evanson to the group at the end.
The Summer Spelling Bee was hosted by the library, Evanson of the “Secaucus Spectator,” and the Secaucus Rotary Club.
Educational prizes for first, second, and third place were provided by Bhikhubhai Patel. Patel has been a strong supporter of the library and served as the monitor in the children’s Extended Story Hour programs for many years prior to his retirement.
The prizes were passes to the Liberty Science Center, Turtle Back Zoo and Field Station: Dinosaurs. Recognition awards were also provided by the Rotary Club.
Adriana Rambay Fernández may be reached at afernandez@hudsonreporter.com.