Way to Go! Plainview-Old Bethpage student wins regional spelling bee
Bhavana Madini. Credit: Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District
A Plainview-Old Bethpage Middle School student has been named the regional spelling bee champion for a second time and has qualified to compete at the national level.
Bhavana Madini, a seventh-grader, took the title in this year's NYC Regional Scripps Spelling Bee. She also won the regional bee in 2019 and was slated to compete in last year's regional bee, which was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To reach the regional level, Bhavana emerged victorious in her school's spelling bee — for the third consecutive year.
"There are a lot of clues in a word," Bhavana, 12, said. "Words are really interesting when you look at them that way and try to crack the code."
The NYC Regional bee, which consisted of a 50-question test on spelling and vocabulary, had a time limit of 30 minutes and ended in a three-way tie, Bhavana said. She was declared the winner after an oral tiebreaker round that was held virtually and her winning word was "menology," which is an ecclesiastical calendar of the months.
Bhavana will go on to compete at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which begins with a preliminary competition on June 12. The preliminary round will be followed by quarterfinal and semifinal rounds to determine who will advance to this year's final round, slated to be held on July 8 in Orlando, Florida.
— MICHAEL R. EBERT
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
