On today’s program, we’ll cut right to the chase and feature two of the top spellers in this year’s competition.
First up, Vanya Shivashankar, younger sister of 2009 Champion Kavya and winner of the Lifetime game show “Child Genius.” This year, Vanya is relishing her fifth and final trip to the Bee, posing for pictures and interviews, and competing in the semifinals as Speller #90.
Also on today’s show, we’ll hear from a young man who finished agonizingly close to the summit in 2014. Gokul Venkatachalam opened a lot of eyes last year by finishing as first runner-up behind co-champions Ansun Sujoe and Sriram Hathwar. In his final year of Bee competition, Gokul slam-dunked the written vocabulary test, earning a perfect score on his way to the semis as Speller #140.
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