Indians Dominate 2005
National Spelling Bee Competition
Eighth-grader Anurag Kashyap of California became this year’s National Spelling Bee Champion. Tied for second place were 11-year-old Samir Patel, who is home-schooled in Colleyville, Texas, and Aliya Deri, 13, a Pleasanton, California, student. Rajiv Tarigopula came fourth in the overall competition. The following is a list of all South Asians participated in the final competition.
Nitish Lakhanpal
Age:13, eighth grade School: Fairmont Private Schools, Edgewood Campus,SantaAna,California
Maheen A. Rana
Age:11, sixth grade School: Bidwell Elementary School, Red Bluff, California
Maithreyi Gopalakrishnan
Age:12, sixth grade School: Peak to Peak Charter School, Lafayette, Colorado
Suma M. Metla
Age:14, eighth grade School: Lawton Chiles Middle Academy, Lakeland, Florida
Bahareh Yaseen Saadatmand
Age:12, seventh grade School: The King’s Academy, West Palm Beach, Florida
Sonal S. Sathe
Age:13, eighth grade School: North Florida Christian Middle School, Tallahassee, Florida
Ashwini A. Gokhale
Age:13, eighth grade School: Parkside Junior High School, Normal, Illinois
Vaibhav S. Vavilala
Age:10, fourth grade School: Orchard Park Elementary School, Indianapolis, Indiana
Sameer Mishra
Age:10, fifth grade School: Happy Hollow Elementary School, West Lafayette, Indiana
Sahiti Surapaneni
Age:14, eighth grade School: Academy of Notre Dame, Tyngsboro, Massachusetts
Akshat Shekhar
Age:9, fifth grade School: Point Webster Middle School, Quincy, Massachusetts
Nilesh K. Raval
Age:13, seventh grade School: Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy, Saginaw, Michigan
Rajiv Tarigopula
Age:12, seventh grade School: Sperreng Middle School, St. Louis, Missouri
Arjun R. Modi
Age:13, eighth grade School: George Washington Middle School, Ridgewood, New Jersey
Rajdeep Chahal
Age:12, seventh grade School: Middle School 137, New York, New York
Krunal Dhaval Amin
Age:11, fifth grade School: Grove Park Elementary School, Burlington, North Carolina
Shrey P. Shah
Age:14, eighth grade School: Incarnate Word Academy, Parma Heights, Ohio
Saptarshi Chaudhuri
Age:13, eighth grade School: Dominion Middle School, Columbus, Ohio
Aravind Arun
Age:12 seventh grade School: Colegio Nuestra Señora del armen, Hatillo, Puerto Rico
Midhat Patel
Age:12 seventh grade School: Wylie Junior High School, Abilene, Texas
Anjali Chitra Raghuram
Age:10, fifth grade School: Woodlands Elementary School, Amarillo, Texas
Nikhil B. Koganti
Age:13, eighth grade School: Rice Middle School, Plano, Texas
Samir Sudhir Patel
Age:11, sixth grade School: Patel Achievement Academy, Colleyville, Texas
Nidharshan S. Anandasivam
Age:12, seventh grade School: Saint Joseph Academy, Brownsville, Texas
Anjay Ajodha
Age:10, sixth grade School: Rogers Middle School, Pearland, Texas
Abiram Viswanath
Age:13, eighth grade School: United Middle School, Laredo, Texas
Sami Hashmi
Age:11, fifth grade School: Saint Edward’s Lower School, Vero Beach, Florida
Bonny Jain
Age:11, seventh grade School: Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Moline, Illinois
Manasa J. Reddy
Age:12, seventh grade School: Holy Rosary Central School, Steubenville, Ohio
Daniel P. Chacko
Age:13, eighth grade School: Home School, San Antonio, Texas
