Schools

Hull Middle Schooler Wins State Spelling Bee Championship

Hull Middle School student Sumedh Garimella, 14, will represent Georgia in the National Spelling Bee.

A 14-year-old student at Hull Middle School will represent Georgia in the National Spelling Bee.

Sumedh Garimella won the 53rd Georgia Association of Educators State Spelling Bee Friday in Atlanta. Hull Middle, located near Duluth, is part of the Peachtree Ridge Cluster.

According to a GAE press release, Garimella won in 14 rounds, correctly spelling “ptomaine” and “enterorrhagia” in his final two words to secure the win. Sathvika Narasimhan, 12, a student at Mill Creek Middle School in Cherokee County, was the runner-up.

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“I feel really good. I’ve been waiting for this for about 5 to 6 years,” Garimella said in the press release.

He has qualified for the Scripps National Spelling Bee Championships in Washington, D.C., May 25-31. He won an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, plus $1,000 from GAE, a Nook or iPad Mini and $100 Amazon gift card (Horace Mann Insurance Companies), a dictionary (Merriam-Webster), a one-year online subscription (Encyclopaedia Britannica), one $100 U.S. Savings Bond (Samuel L. Sugarman Award) and a GAE Bee Champion lapel pin.

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 “I can’t say enough about what these young people have accomplished,” said GAE President Calvine Rollins.  “Everyone associated with their efforts should be very proud and on behalf of GAE and I congratulate each and every one of them.  Our thoughts and prayers are with Sumedh and his family as they travel to Washington to represent Georgia and to attempt to win the national championship.” 


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