Aurora Eighth-Grader Is One Of DuPage County’s Best Spellers

Hopes were high before Wednesday evening’s DuPage County Spelling Bee Final. Twenty-seven students, identified by red t-shirts, sat in the auditorium at with their families.

Austin Moca, , spelled his first word wrong and left the competition after round one.

The participants whittled down to three finalists after nine rounds. Prospect Elementary School eighth grader Sanjay Kottapalli misspelled ‘notarization’ in the tenth round, leaving the competition up to the champion and first place finisher.

Emma McDonnell from Herrick Middle School in Downers Grove and Francis Granger Middle School eighth grader Ujwal Kiran didn't settle into their places without a good fight. Both girls went several perfectly spelled rounds, and both slipped up once (misspelling ‘corollary’ and ‘leviable,’ respectively). But the word ‘accolade’ now gives Kiran one of her own—it was the word that sealed her championship after correctly spelling ‘taciturn.’

Kiran will proceed to Washington, D.C. for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Seventh grader Harshapriya Koritala represented LJHS at the event, lasting until the second round.