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.
Members of the Kappa League mentoring program at Wyandanch Memorial High School in Long Island, NY are preparing for an educational trip to Ghana. Principal Paul Sibblies is on a mission to enrich his students' lives to put some of them in touch with their roots. "When you invest in young people, then it's the greatest investment you can make," he said.
A group of 15 students recently graduated from SANYS U., a six-week program held by the Self Advocacy Association of New York State. The course helps people with disabilities to advocate on their own behalf, learning more about their rights, legislation and issues that matter most.
The minivan is turning 40 years old this year. While it made up just 1.8 percent of the car market in 2022, that number could begin to tick up, as more families increase interest in the car's advantages. Cheddar News' senior reporter Michelle Castillo takes a deeper look at the minivan's lineage.
