National spelling bee runner-up reflects on competition and moving to Texas

Between moving halfway across the country and competing in a national spelling bee, Chaitra Thummala has had a busy summer.

The 12-year-old secured a second place finish at last week’s Scripps National Spelling Bee finals, taking home a $25,000 cash prize and poised to be the odds-on favorite for next year’s contest.

Chaitra’s family moved from San Francisco to Frisco, right in the middle of her spelling bee run. The new Texan began competing in spelling bees at age 5, when winning her first event sparked her interest.

“I’ve been doing spelling for more than half my life, so I’m really happy because it’s always been my dream to go this far,” Chaitra said of reaching the national finals.

She previously tied for 51st place at the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee and is happy with her second place finish at this year’s event. Zaila Avant-garde, an eighth grader from Louisiana, won the 2021 bee after correctly spelling “murraya”.

Like many spellers, Chaitra was not able to compete last year since the competition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Chaitra continued studying and preparing not only for the national bee, but several other smaller competitions. With each bee, the words are more difficult, which leads to plenty of studying. Chaitra’s strategy is to look over word lists and read books, her favorite series is Harry Potter from author J.K. Rowling.

“It’s fun learning about everything,” she said. “The spelling bee tells you about lots of things around the world.”

As Chaitra prepared for the national competition, her family was getting ready to move. She made sure she allotted enough time for spelling bee prep between packing.

In search of a bigger home for their three kids, Chaitra’s dad Murali Thummala said the family settled on Texas, which he noted also doesn’t have a state income tax. The family is settling in nicely to their new home and Thummala said he likes Texas, even if it’s a little sunnier than California.

Chaitra’s recent move meant five of the 11 finalists at the national spelling bee were from Texas.

Thummala and his wife couldn’t be happier for Chaitra. The prize money will be saved for her college fund.

“We were anticipating she’ll be one of the top five students, and we’re grateful that she made it to the top two,” he said.

Chaitra said she’ll be back competing at various bees throughout the year and has her eyes set on the national competition again. Her favorite thing about the whole experience was being able to have fun and learn as many words as she could.

“It’s really good,” she said. “It feels really good to be second place.”