USC students place in spelling bee
Two Upper St. Clair students were among the top performers in the 72nd annual Western Pennsylvania Spelling Bee held at Robert Morris University.
Eighth-grader Nikhil Chandran placed second and fifth-grader Arjun Kairi finished within the top 10. Chandran and Kairi were two of five Upper St. Clair students that competed.
To qualify for the regional competition, students finished first in their respective school’s spelling bee. Other school-level winners included Yu Rui Lin, Baker Elementary School; Brayden Wong, Eisenhower Elementary School; and Drew Holzer, Streams Elementary School.
Upper St. Clair Parent Teacher Council volunteers, led by Sarah Cranganu, coordinated the school-level events.
Students up through grade 8 from throughout a 26-county region had the opportunity to compete in the Western Pennsylvania Spelling Bee.
The winner of the Western Pennsylvania Spelling Bee advances to the Scripps National Spelling Bee to be held in June.
Last year, Upper St. Clair’s Rohan Mehta, then an eighth-grader at Fort Couch Middle School, was the Western Pennsylvania champion. The runner-up was Boyce Middle School fifth-grader Raana Parchuri as a fourth grader. He was the 2020 champion.