Final Word is Snigdha’s: She’s Repeat Champion at County Spelling Bee

Ten-year-old Sujan Nandipati calls his big sister “Sniggy.”  She doesn’t like that, says their father.

Maybe little bro will give Snigdha Nandipati a break now that she’s being called something very special: county spelling champ for the second year in a row.

Conquering mneme and gobemouche, Snigdha on Wednesday won another trip to Washington to vie in the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee—and a chance at $30,000, a $5,000 scholarship and other prizes.

Snigdha—a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Francis Parker School in Linda Vista—is the daughter of Krishnarao Nandipati, a software consultant for Qualcomm, and mom Madhavi Nandipati. They live in Carmel Valley.

Runner-up in the 43rd annual U-T San Diego Countywide Spelling Bee at the Hall of Champions sports museum in Balboa Park was Marinda Whetten, who attends Madison Middle School in Oceanside.

One hundred seventh- and eighth-graders started four rounds of competition in front of an audience of 300 friends, family members and school officials. By the third round, students still alive had dwindled to 38. In the fourth round, only two survived—Snigdha and Marinda.

The Oceanside girl just missed on zacate (she used a K). But Snigdha—with her habit of tracing out spellings in the palm of her hand—took her winning words from bee master David Hay of USD and nailed her return trip to D.C. in late May.  Last year, she tied for 27th nationally.

Asked how she would celebrate, Snigdha said she’d be getting ready for a trip to Spain.

That’s not thanks to victory in the bee. She’s traveling with her Spanish class on a weeklong field trip, she said.

But she’s not a spelling whiz alone. Snigdha is a member of Francis Parker’s 15-member Science Olympiad team preparing for a state competition in mid-April.

“I want to go into medicine,” Snigdha said while holding her trophy and parrying queries from a half-dozen TV reporters.  Her goal: become a neurosurgeon.

Snigdha is an Indian name that means smooth or tender, but the 13-year-old was tough as nails at the Hall of Champions, which honors local sports superstars such as Ted Williams, Tony Gwynn and Bill Walton.

Her mental gymnastics made her right at home.

Marinda and Snigdha were among at least 30 student entrants with connections to Patch communities.

Here are the others:

• Noah Kuo, Pacific Ridge School, Carlsbad
• Vikram Thridandam, Aviara Oaks Middle School, Carlsbad
• Grace Weisbrod, Coronado Middle School, Coronado
• Dane Hoffman, Encinitas Country Day School, Encinitas
• Carlos Mena, St. Johns School, Encinitas
• Carly Truscott, Grauer School, Encinitas
• Erin Ulm, Rancho Encinitas Academy, Encinitas
• Salvador Arana, SD French American School, La Jolla
• Elijah Ferguson, Pruess School, La Jolla
• Coral Nava, All Hallows Academy, La Jolla
• Vienna Vance, La Jolla Country Day School, La Jolla
• Kelli Rust, Lakeside Middle School, Lakeside
• Carl Corona, Parkway Middle School, La Mesa
• Shalomi Philip, Learning Choice Academy, La Mesa
• Abdi Hussein, Palm Middle School, Lemon Grove
• Alyssa Vacheron, St. John of the Cross School, Lemon Grove
• Drew Miller, Mt. Helix Academy, Mt. Helix
• Brandon Furtado, Lincoln Middle School, Oceanside
• Liam Robles, Coastal Academy, Oceanside
• Alma Rodriguez, Jefferson Middle School, Oceanside
• Owen Cruise, Meadowbrook Middle School, Poway
• Tyler Merritt, Twin Peaks Middle School, Poway
• Shivank Nayak, Mesa Verde Middle School, Poway
• Jacques Paye, St. Michael’s School, Poway
• Ian Barnes, Bernardo Heights Middle School, Poway Unified School District
• Kasey Stoudt, Hill Creek Elementary School, Santee
• Victoria Weinzirl, Chet F. Harritt Elementary School, Santee
• Caroline Cecena, Santa Sophia Academy, Spring Valley