Probably not many would have heard about the word `guetapens’, which means "an ambush, snare or trap," and is derived from French. This is the word that has seen Indian origin American Snigdha Nandipati get crowned as the `2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee.’
The 14-year-old won the 85th round of the national competition on Thursday night at Maryland. It must have been a trying task for spelling it right, amidst pulsating family members who had flown down from India to watch her win. And instantly her ten-year-old brother ran to the centre to give her a warm hug.
Hailing from Andhra Pradesh Snigdha persuaded her dream to conquer the crown after being the semifinalist in the previous year. Vivacious coin collector, she aspires to be a neurosurgeon. She is the fifth consecutive Indian-American winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Her prizes include $30,000 in cash, a trophy, a $2,500 savings bond, a $5,000 scholarship, $2,600 in reference works from the Encyclopedia Britannica and an online language course.
Stuti Mishra of West Melbourne, Florida, finished second after misspelling "schwarmerei", which means excessive, unbridled enthusiasm. Coming in third for the second consecutive year was Arvind Mahankali of Bayside Hills, New York.
The competition was held at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, National Harbor, Maryland, South Washington. The words in the final rounds were read out to the participants by Jacques Bailly, the champion of the Bee spelling test of 1980. (With Inputs from Internet- Aarkay)
