Arvind Mahankali won the Scripps National Spelling Bee this week, and boy does that 13-year-old really know how to celebrate…
After spelling the German-Yiddish word “Knaidel” correctly, Mahankali started jumping around on the stage while screaming “I’m the king of the world!” OK, so that’s not exactly how it happened.
Mahankali won the 86th Scripps National Spelling Bee with an impressive display of intellect. His celebration, however, was not much to see. The 13-year-old just kind of stood there as confetti poured from the ceiling and his family jumped for joy.
But that doesn’t mean that Mahankali wasn’t happy. After all, he finally won the Scripps National Spelling Bee after finishing in the top three in 2012 and 2011.
Mahankali was eliminated in 2011 and 2012 with German derived words so he was a little worried when the announced said that he had to spell Knaidel.
Mahankali said: “I had begun to be a little wary of German words, but this year I prepared German words and I studied them, so when I got German words this year, I wasn’t worried… The German curse has turned into a German blessing.”
Despite his problems with German in the past, Mahankali correctly spelled Knaidel and won the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The only thing left for him to do is celebrate.
What do you think was going on in Arvind Mahankali’s mind after he won the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Was he just so relieved that it was over that he couldn’t move? Was he waiting for the judge to confirm that he won? Was he just exhausted from the multi-day spelling marathon?
He didn’t show it on the stage but let’s hope that Mahankali found a way to celebrate his impressive victory.
