Menands School fourth grader Pujitha Kasibhotia gave an A-plus worthy performance recently when competing in a school-wide spelling bee.
The aspiring physician took second place in the competition that challenged representatives of the fourth, fifth sixth, seventh and eighth grades against one-another to see who was the top speller in Menands. Eighth grade student Mohamed Elhadi won the competition and advanced to the regional spelling bee in late March.
Kasibhotia credits her success to a love for academics.
“I like learning,” Kasibhotia said, adding that she studied a word packet regularly in preparation for the February competition. “I practiced the whole packet and I tried my best,” she said.
Adding to the unlikely success she had is another fact—English is not Kasibhotia’s first language. She learned Telugu—a Dravidian language with more than 82 million speakers in India—and still speaks it at home.
“I lived half my life in India before I moved here,” she said.
Teacher Caterina Burns praised the young scholar.
“She is a super hard worker and a very enthusiastic learner,” Burns said.