Forest Hills Student Takes Third In National Spelling Bee

Arvind Mahankali, 11, made his hometown proud on Thursday night, tying for third place at the National Spelling Bee.

Arvind progressed through 17 rounds, outlasting hundreds of other spellers from across the country, before finally being ousted on the word “Jugendstil.” Arvind spelled the word, which is defined as a German art style, “uguntschtiel.”

Magnanimous in defeat and clearly a crowd favorite, he left in the same round as competitor Joanna Ye, sealing his third place finish. The national spelling competition, that draws students from as far away as Canada and Hawaii, has become a bit of a sensation in the sports world, being broadcast on ESPN.

Arvind’s father, Srinivas Mahankali, said he was extremely proud of his son’s performance. “He performed so well, and so far beyond any expectations,” he said. “He was preparing so hard this time, and told us from the beginning that he was preparing to win the cup.”

Commenting on the word selection, Srinivas said that Arvind spent much of his time over the last year concentrating on Spanish, Italian and German words, knowing that the competition has gone from mostly Latin and Greek words in the past to the more challenging Romance languages as the spelling bee has grown in popularity.

“He was a little bit disappointed [with third place], but he really started enjoying what he had achieved once about a minute had passed.”

Arvind credited his teacher at for encouraging him. He said that the knowledge that his classmates were watching him during his semifinals performance on Thursday was an honor, though he was concentrating on the task at hand.

“I was worried I would get a word I didn’t know,” said Arvind, who correctly spelled words like dactyliotheca, opodeldoc and capoeira.

The 11-year-old student has two years of eligibility left in the competition, and after placing in the semifinals and finals in both of his first two years, seemed confident that he could improve on third place next year.

“Right now, I’m pretty satisfied, next year I plan on winning,” Arvind said. “I think out of the 2012 field, I have a pretty good chance.”