Indian-American teen wins US Spelling Bee crown

From Lalit K Jha
Washington, June 3 (PTI) Indian-origin students have
triumphed four times in a row in the prestigious Spelling Bee
championship of the US with 14-year-old Sukanya Roy correctly
spelling the tongue-twister 'cymotrichous' to be crowned the
new champion.
"My heart started pounding, I guess," Sukanya said,
after winning the championship, considered as a coveted prize
for students in the US.
Sukanya spelt the word "cymotrichous" which relates to
wavy hair, correctly to win the coveted prize for students in
the US.
"I couldn't believe it...It's just amazing. It's hard
to put into words," the Class 8 student of Pennsylvania's
Abington Heights Middle School said. She was declared winner
following the finals between 13 candidates last evening.
The teenager earlier participated in the 2009 and 2010
Scripps National Spelling Bees, tying for 12th place in 2009
and 20th place in 2010.
This is the fourth year in succession and ninth time
in 13 years that an Indian American has been declared a
Spelling Bee champion, reflecting the dominance of the
community students in the competition.
Sukanya enjoys hiking, rock climbing and ice skating.
She was selected to go to Panama this summer with her school's
ecology club to learn more about the rain forest.
A pianist, Sukanya also plays violin in her school's
orchestra. She had won first place in the individual portion
of the Northeast Pennsylvania Chapter Mathcounts Competition.
Sukanya also speaks Bengali, and every summer travels
to India to visit family. She hopes to pursue a career in
international relations.
Born in Boston, Sukanya's father Abhi Roy teaches
marketing at the University of Scranton, and mother Mousumi
Roy teaches statistics and calculus at Penn State,
Worthington.