Ever since Ankita Balaji was in third grade and saw her older sister, Akshita, win her class spelling bee, she’s had an undeniable passion for spelling.
Four years later, the seventh grader at Rachel Carson Middle School will participate in the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee from May 28-30. After she was crowned champion of the 2024 Fairfax County Spelling Bee on March 17, Balaji is preparing to take her skills to the national level next week.
“It was stressful, it was fun, it was exciting, and it was suspenseful,” Balaji says about her experience in the spring bee.
The Merrifield native credits her family as being her biggest supporters throughout this process.
“They’ve been with me through all of this and I just really thank them for that,” she says.
Balaji’s sister, Akshita, now a junior at Westfield High School, is a two-time contestant in the Scripps National Spelling Bee (2019, 2021). Before Ankita’s spelling bee in March, Akshita encouraged her to just focus on herself and get her own words right — no one else’s.
Approaching its 100th anniversary, the Scripps National Spelling Bee began in 1925 and is administered on a nonprofit level by The E.W. Scripps Company based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The competition features 245 spellers from across the country and is open to students who have neither turned 16 nor passed beyond the eighth grade.
In preparation for the bee, Balaji is reviewing the lists that Scripps provides each contestant. Three levels are included in the competition: a “Words of the Champions” list, a vocabulary section, and a final 500-word list.
“You never know what could happen,” Balaji says. “After preliminaries, anything additional is fair game, from vocab to spelling.”
Balaji expresses profuse appreciation for the people who continue to support her endeavors. She shares how her family has always been there for her. Additionally, she highlights the Fairfax County Council (FCC) PTA, the organizers of the 2024 Fairfax County Spelling Bee who also serve as the official Scripps partner for Fairfax County and Alexandria City.
“I would like to thank my grandpa, who has always been there for me,” Balaji says. “He lives in India, so it’s a completely different time zone, and he’s always staying up [to] pray to make sure I do my best.”
Her winning word in the March competition was “Zanni”, an Italian word meaning an astute servant and a trickster. Another word on the school spelling list was “Popocatépetl”, which is a stratovolcano in Mexico.
“I hope to just do my best and get however far I can, and make some friends along the way [who] I know will be there,” Balaji says about what she hopes to gain from competing at the national level.
Scripps Bee Week 2024 will take place at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland from May 28-30. This nationally-televised competition can be viewed on ion.
Feature image of Ankita Balaji by Karen Bolt, courtesy Fairfax County Public Schools
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