Anamika Veeramani can.
14-year-old Ohio native Anamika Veeramani won the 83rd annual Scripps National Spelling Bee this past Friday night. What was the winning word? Stromuhr, an instrument used to measure the amount and speed of blood through an artery.
The competition began with 273 spellers, 110 first-timers. The spellers, 144 boys and 129 girls, ranged from 8 to 15 years old. The youngest speller was 8-year old Vanya Shivashankar, sister to last year’s champion. But, by the beginning of the Friday night championship finals, only 10 spellers remained.
As winner, Veeramani walks away with a trophy and $40,000: $30,000 in cash, $2,500 savings bond, and $2,700 in reference books from Encyclopedia Britannica. Throughout the competition she also correctly spelled: exacerbate, foggara, osteomyelitis, mirin, nahcolite, epiphysis, and juvia, which when correctly spelled moved on her from the round that ended in a three-way tie for second place.
Not just the reigning champion, but also an eighth grade student, Veeramani hopes to go to Harvard and become a cardiovascular surgeon, an author, and a screenwriter. If the Bee is any indication, she is well on her way to achieving anything.