The final word was “clientele,” and Ishaan Ajay spelled it flawlessly to secure another spelling title.
Ajay, a ninth-grade student at Lincoln High School, won the junior high division (seventh to ninth grade) at the 25th Annual San Joaquin County Spelling Bee Championship at the county’s office of education earlier this week. Second place went to Pranvi Rikkamalle, a seventh grader at Jefferson School in Tracy. Both students will move on to participate in the California State Spelling Bee Championship, scheduled on May 13, 2023, at the SJCOE headquarters.
This is Ajay’s second junior high division championship, having won in 2021. He was also elementary eivision champion in sixth grade and runner-up in fifth grade. Rikkamalle was the 2021- 2022 elementary champion.
In the county’s elementary school division competition Aditya Kumaravel, a sixth grader from Jefferson School, was named champion. The winning word was “carafe.” She and runner-up Adrian Guevara, a sixth grader at St. Anthony’s Catholic School in Manteca, will also compete in the state spelling bee on May 13.
