Kavya Jakasania, 13, a seventh-grade student at Middle School 4 in Jersey City, outlasted all but 21 of the original 230-plus contestants.
, 13, a seventh-grade student at Middle School 4, breezed through the preliminaries on Tuesday and correctly defined “ethereal” in the vocabulary section of the quarterfinals on Wednesday to reach the semifinals.
There, she stumbled on “revellent” , a word she knew but second-guessed herself, she said, and just missed by saying “revellant.” A first-time contestant on the national stage, Kavya and her accomplishment had Hudson County officials beaming with pride. “What a remarkable achievement,” Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise said. “Kavya has truly done Hudson County proud with this performance. Her parents and teachers also deserve a ‘Well done!’ for helping her become the outstanding student she is today, which she showed by going so far in this year’s national competition.” Kavya reached the Scripps bee by winning the 2023 Hudson County Spelling Bee, sponsored by the county Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs and Tourism Development, in February. The county also sponsored her trip to National Harbor, Maryland, for Bee Week and the televised national bee. “We are proud to see her get to the semifinals,” Gina Hulings, director of the Cultural & Heritage Affairs Office, said, “and we look forward to watching her compete again next year.” Indeed, Kavya is planning to continue on the Spelling Bee journey, both she and her father, Satyam, said. “I really grew from Bee Week, and I learned a lot of new things,” Kavya said, adding she plans to work “twice as hard” over the next year in the hope that she’ll make it all the way to the finals in 2024. “I knew most of the words in the final rounds,” she added, and hopes that by spending more time with words over the next 12 months she’ll be able to not second-guess herself again. She credited Middle School 4 Spelling Bee curator Tina Rose, English Language Arts teacher Max Arias and Principal Richard Stellato for their support.“All the kids, rather than competing with each other, they were upraising each other,” he said. The comradery was fostered by the Scripps staff, he said, which put together workshops like one on LEGO-making and field trips for the students and, in some cases, family members as well.In fact, while he was speaking with The Jersey Journal, Kavya was on a sightseeing trip with the bee in nearby Washington, D.C. The proud dad noted that many of the contestants at the national event had participated before and had coaches help them prepare. Aside from her teachers at Middle School 4 and her parents, Kavya prepped alone.In the end, Dev Shah, a 14-year-old from Florida, won the competition and its $50,000 cash prize by correctly spelling “psammophile” in the 15th round Thursday night. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation.
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