Spelling Bee Winners Bio

nitya Kathiravan

Sponsored By: Somerset County Library System - Bridgewater, New Jersey

School: Rutgers Preparatory School

Previous Bee Experience: Nitya previously competed in 2019 (tied for 51st place).

Bio: Nitya is a book enthusiast whose love for reading got her interested in spelling at a young age. Aside from reading, she enjoys ceramics, volleyball and swimming. Nitya gardens in the spring and summertime, and each year harvests certain vegetables that last until next year’s season.

Favorites: Sport: Volleyball, Movie: Cruella, Candy: Laffy Taffy

Harini Logan

Sponsored By: The Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre Association, San Antonio, Texas

School: The Montessori School of San Antonio

Previous Bee Experience: Harini previously competed in 2018 (tied for 323rd place), 2019 (tied for 30th place) and 2021 (tied for 31st place).

Bio: Harini is an avid reader, and her love for reading led her to compete in spelling bees. She loves creative writing and is planning on publishing a book sometime in high school. She plays the piano and the recorder and is teaching herself the ukulele. In her free time, she loves playing with and walking Milo, her four-month-old Cavapoo puppy, doing a variety of quizzes with her brother on Alexa, reading, writing, listening to music and watching movies. She loves traveling and is greatly looking forward to exploring new places with her family after completing her Bee journey.

Sahana Srikanth

Sponsored By: Rapoport Holdings, LLC - Waco, Texas School: Midway Middle School Previous Bee Experience: Vihaan previously competed in 2018 (tied for 42nd place) and 2021 (tied for 7th place). Bio: Vihaan began his spelling career as a second grader, placing fifth in his school spelling bee. Since then, his love for words has only grown. When he’s not staring at a computer screen studying words, he spends his time playing the cello, listening to music or crushing his dad in tennis or ping-pong. Favorites: Athlete: Rafael Nadal, Movie: King Richard, Subject: Science

Sponsored By: WCPO 9, Cincinnati, Ohio School: Mason Middle School

Previous Bee Experience: Sahana previously competed in 2021 (tied for 76th place). Bio: Sahana has played the piano since the age of four and has been invited to the Royal Conservatory of Music Celebration of Excellence for many years for her high examination performance. Along with playing music, Sahana loves composing and her piece “Suspicion” was a National Finalist for the National Federation of Music Clubs in 2021. As well as this, she has played the violin for three years and done Indian classical style dance, Bharata Natyam, for seven years. Sahana loves STEM and engineering as well, and has been part of various robotics teams since 2017. She enjoys coding, specifically app development, and she uses Java to create Android applications. Favorites: Sport: Tennis, TV Show: Stranger Things, Candy: Hi-Chew fruit candy

Sahasrad Sathish

Sponsored By: Lake County Regional Office of Education - Grayslake, Illinois School: Lake Forest Country Day School Previous Bee Experience: Sahasrad previously competed in 2021 (tied for 21st place). Bio: Sahasrad is a passionate reader, and he enjoys listening to music and playing musical instruments. He likes to practice karate and has received multiple awards in karate tournaments. He loves to solve challenging math problems. Sahasrad created a piece of artwork about the first National Spelling Bee champion, Frank Neuhauser. Favorites: Food: Pasta, Book: The Maze Runner, Subject: Math

Shijay Sivakumar

Sponsored By: Ector County Independent School District, Odessa, Texas School: Bowie Middle School

Previous Bee Experience: Shijay previously competed in 2019 (tied for 51st place) and 2021 (tied for 43rd place). Bio: Shijay developed an interest in spelling by watching the Scripps National Spelling Bee when he was nine years old. Besides spelling, he also enjoys basketball, watching football and reading. Favorites: Sport: Basketball, Athlete: Stephen Curry, Author: Alan Gratz

Sponsored By: The City Journals, Salt Lake City, Utah

School: American Preparatory Academy

Previous Bee Experience: Surya previously competed in 2019 (tied for 370th place).

Bio: Surya enjoys reading books and is very passionate about learning new words. He enjoys sports, anime, superhero movies, and spending time with his family and friends.

Favorites: Food: Chicken Biryani, Tv Show: Gravity Falls, Game: Minecraft

abhilash Patel

Sponsored By: Orange-Ulster BOCES - Goshen, New York

School: Monroe-Woodbury Middle School

Bio: Abhilash loves to read fantasy novels and learn about peculiar parts of history. In his free time, he loves to explore geography and research scientific and mathematical paradoxes. His favorite paradoxes are the ship of Theseus and the potato paradox. Abhilash plans to study computer science in college, and already knows how to program in JavaScript, CSS, Python and HTML.

Favorites: Food: Biryani, Author: Robert Frost, Musician: Antonio Vivald

Vikram raju

Sponsored By: The Denver Post - Denver, Colorado

School: Aurora Quest K-8 Previous Bee Experience: Vikram previously competed in 2019 (tied for 51st place) and 2021 (tied for 21st place). Bio: Vikram has had a gift for spelling from a very young age, having excelled in phonics and learning words. In addition to spelling, he enjoys playing the piano and playing basketball. He is very interested in learning about geography and is fascinated by science, especially medical and health science. He also is passionate about protecting the environment, and he likes to be in nature and enjoys hiking.

Favorites: Athlete: Nikola Jokic

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Sponsored By: Orlando City SC - Orlando, Florida

School: Markham Woods Middle School

Previous Bee Experience: Ekansh previously competed in 2019 (tied for 51st place). Bio: Ekansh is an aspiring cricket player who plays in adult leagues in Central Florida as well as in tournaments throughout the country. He enjoys cooking, playing tennis, coding and 3-D designing when he is not spelling. He also competed in the Science Olympiad at the national level. Favorites: Sport: Cricket, Athlete: Ben Stokes, Book: “The Giver” by Lois Lowry

Saharsh Vuppala

Sponsored By: Wyoming Systems Group of Businesses - Seattle, Washington

School: Annie Wright Schools

Previous Bee Experience: Saharsh previously competed in 2019 (tied for 51st place).

Bio: Saharsh loves playing badminton and tennis. He is an avid reader and likes mystery and thriller books. His favorite language is French. He loves coding and knows Python and Java. He loves watching spelling bees and can remember the round results from the past bees. His favorite pastime is to quiz his twin sister on interesting words. Also, he loves watching news and interpreting statistical information from daily news. Favorites: Sport: Tennis, TV Show: Stranger Things, Candy: Hi-Chew fruit candy