Founder of the South Asian Spelling Bee
The 2013 MetLife South Asian Spelling Bee continued its 12 city tour this past weekend with the first two events in the Chicago and Seattle areas.
With a huge turnout this year as well, the Bee attracted some top talent as well as young and new spellers that competed for the coveted prizes and titles.
“It is very heartening to see that each year we get fresh faces and new talent which is a continuing testimony to our community’s strength in this craft,” said Rahul Walia, Founder, South Asian Spelling Bee.
In Chicago, Gokul Venkatachalam from Chesterfield, MO was the regional champ and Sharmita Dixit from Appleton, WI was the first runner up while Yasir Hasnain from Forsyth, IL was second runner up.
In Seattle, Neha Seshadri from Imlay City, MI was the regional champ and Siddhanth Chari from Sammamish, WA was first runner up while Tapabrata Ghosh from Portland, OR was second runner up.
Financial Planning Division, an office of MetLife in Seattle was also at hand to talk to families and help with their financial needs and goals.
“MetLife congratulates all of the families who took part in this year’s event. We were so pleased to see how many families took part in the LA & Bay Area competition. All the families should be so proud of the skills these children demonstrated,” said Laurel Daring, assistant vice president, Diverse Markets, MetLife.
Along with MetLife, airline major Air-India and education company C2Education have also come on board as sponsors for this event.
The winners received cash prizes of $500, $300 and $200 respectively.
India Post News Service
