Monisha “Mona” Mahadevan is something close to a linguist, and she’s only 14 years old.
The Woodward Academy eighth-grader beat 20 other students from across the state to win the 54th Annual Georgia Association of Educators State Spelling Bee in March. She’ll be the state’s sole representative in the Scripps National Spelling Bee Championships in Washington, D.C., May 26-28.
Mona uses language patterns and etymons, or language roots from which other words are derived, to figure out how to spell these difficult words.
“Since English comes from other languages, it’s not really its own language,” she said. “So, if you know the language of origin” for a word, “you’re able to predict what the spelling would be.”
Mona became the state champion after spelling “novillero” and then “arboretum” correctly. She won $1,000 from GAE and an iPad Mini, among other prizes.
But Mona hasn’t had a lot of time to spend the money while she’s training for nationals. Her mom, Kal, is her coach, timetabling Mona’s studying schedule (about 4 hours a day during the workweek and 8 hours on weekends) and creating categorized lists of etymons for Mona to study at their Dunwoody home. Mona’s father, Maha, said that as long as Mona enjoys and is committed to the bees, he and Kal will make sure she has the resources and time she needs.
“We’re more in a supportive role,” he said. “She’s the one that does the heavy lifting.”
Mona wasn't always interested in spelling. Her interest was sparked by her 23-year-old older brother Pranav, who started competing in spelling bees when he was in second grade and won several regional bees. In 2006, Pranav missed his last chance at winning the state or national bees when he was eliminated at the Georgia Independent Schools Association spelling bee. He spelled "ivy" instead of "ivied" after mishearing a pronouncer. The Mahadevans appealed, but the judges did not replay the tape.
Now, Mona has a chance to go further than her brother did. Yet, though she projects confidence on stage and has an infectiously positive attitude, Mona doesn’t expect to win at the national bee.
“I’m not trying to win,” she said, adding that winning State was enough. “I’m just trying to do as well as I can.”
She started competing in spelling bees in second grade, like Pranav. It was hard at first, but now she enjoys putting together connections between words and meanings.
“You gain a really broad understanding of the English language itself, and you learn history through finding how the roots are created and how they went into English, and I think you gain a lot of culture because you learn about these other languages,” she said. “I think one misconception people have about the bees is that it’s all memorization. But really, it’s a lot of application.”
Mona also plays tennis and piano, loves Harry Potter, “Dr. Who” and bubble tea, and her favorite subject in school is science. She’s thinking about becoming a particle physicist (her uncle’s job) or a journalist.
She’s also an avid debater. Mona has had to phase out of her varsity middle school debate team slightly since the spelling bee season began, but she’s looking forward to next year, when she’ll get to join Woodward’s nationally competitive high school debate team. She said everyone in her school from kindergartners to high schoolers has been extremely supportive, sending words to her to study and learn.
She has taken a lot of time from her other interests to get this far in the bees and, while she’s encountered moments of frustration and thought about quitting, she says she loves the bees too much to give up. She may not expect to win the national championship, but she’s proud to represent Georgia in Washington, D.C and wants to show others about why spelling bees are still important today.
“It’s not about knowing how to spell the words,” she said “The point of education is to learn how to think, to learn how to critically deal with and solve problems. That’s what being a 21st-century learner is. And that’s something the spelling bee does.”
About the Author
