Shreyas Parab (Speller 204) helped the spellers at the assembly last night by reminding them to take deep breaths, ask questions and not give up.
But in his demonstration, he decided it was too soon for him to be at the spelling mic.
He stepped up to it Wednesday to correctly spell "mahout," a word that means a keeper and driver of an elephant.
Earlier, Dr. Bailly told the spellers that he needed them to laugh to make sure he could come back in future years. Shreyas assured him that he was doing what he needed to.
"I think you've got that laugh quota, by the way," he said.
Shreyas, a second year competitor, is an eighth grader from Aston, Pennsylvania.