Vanya Shivashankar, the 2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee co-champion, has been coming to the Bee for more than a decade – starting with before she was a speller, when her sister, Kavya, competed. Kavya was the 2009 champion.
This year, Vanya’s working as an emcee, helping to announce the spelling rounds and kicking off the Opening Ceremony.
Vanya, a rising senior at Yale University studying cognitive science, had worked with broadcaster ESPN on promo videos in years past and said she was excited to have been invited back year after year.
“It’s such an honor,” she said.
How did she go from spelling to presenting? Vanya said she grew up doing a lot of theater, including acting as a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz and – her favorite role – playing Antigone’s sister, Ismene, in a school play. She also dances, and is a leader on her Yale dance team, Rangeela.
But she feels most comfortable, she said, on the Bee’s stage.
“The Bee stage will always have a special place in my heart,” she said. “This stage really has so much meaning to me. It’s great to be back and talk on this stage.”
For spellers following her onto the stage, Vanya’s advice is to try to forget about the outcome of the spelling bee and just enjoy the moment.
“Always just have fun on stage,” she said.
After years of having her own fans, Vanya said she’s now fans of many spellers she watched compete in 2021 and saw for the first time this year.
Every year, she said, the kids get better. And since she’s stopped studying spelling, she said there are definitely words that she doesn’t know – but they do.
Kavya and the girls’ father are still involved in the Bee as well, and Vanya said Bee Week is one of the few times the whole family gets to be together. The family relives old memories, she said, and takes the time to enjoy the experience anew each year. It just goes to show, she said, how important spelling was to her family – and still is.
This year, Vanya said, she feels old. After all, some of the spellers were born the year that she won. Others have told her they started spelling after watching her compete and win.
“I’m a fan of them,” she said. “I’m just so excited this year, to see how it folds out.”
Vanya, who plans to spend her summer in Nepal doing health research into postpartum depression, said her spelling years helped her with etymology and science and the Bee helped her build discipline. She made friends through it, as well.
“There are really so many aspects I took away – it really shaped my whole life,” she said of the competition. “It was a really integral moment in my life.”