Soft-spoken but brimming with confidence, Dev Shah asked precise questions about obscure Greek roots, rushed through his second-to-last word and rolled to the Scripps National Spelling Bee title Thursday night.
Dev, a 14-year-old from Largo, Florida, had his spelling career interrupted by the pandemic, then didn't make it out of his regional bee last year. He got through his highly competitive regional this year for his third and final try at the national title, and he ended up holding the trophy over his head as confetti fell.
His winning word was “psammophile,” a layup for a speller of his caliber.
“Psammo meaning sand, Greek?” he asked. “Phile, meaning love, Greek?”
He soaked up the moment by asking for the word to be used in a sentence, something he described a day earlier as a stalling tactic. Then he put his hands over his face as he was declared the winner.
Charlotte Walsh, a 14-year-old from Arlington, Virginia, was the runner-up.
An Associated Press analysis of more than 130 bills in 40 state legislatures found of the proposals, as introduced or passed, are identical or very similar to some model legislation, the AP found.
The first book in the Harry Potter series hit shelves in 1997. Since then, it’s become a multibillion dollar franchise with multiple books and movies, a theme park, and now an interactive exhibit in New York City. Cheddar’s own Ashley Mastronardi visited earlier this week before it was open to the public.
Cheddar recommends "Queenmaker: The Making of an It Girl," "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves," "The Mother," "A Man Called Otto," "The Covenant," and "The Great American Recipe."
