Turner Bartels K-8 School ‘s PTSA poses with the awards they were given by Ami Marie Granger Welch (2nd from left) & Jessica Vaughn (3rd from left). (Photos by Charmaine George)
If you thought that having this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee champion would be enough for Turner Bartels K-8 School in the Live Oak Preserve area off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., you’d be wrong.
Less than two weeks before Turner Bartels seventh grader Bruhat Soma took home that coveted crown, the school itself was honored with six trophies from the Hillsborough County Council of PTAs & PTSAs, including PTSA of the Year (for the second year in a row), President of the Year (Ali Wilbur), Volunteer of the Year (Holley Townsend), “Superman” Award for Top Male Volunteer of the Year (Eric Wilbur, also for the second consecutive year), Administrator of the Year (Principal R. LaMarr Buggs) and the “At Your Service” Award for the Best Service Project (Giving Tree).
Principal R. LaMarr Buggs with Welch & Vaughn.
Hillsborough Public Schools District 3 School Board member (and New Tampa resident) Jessica Vaughn and Hillsborough County Council VP of Advocacy Ami Marie Granger Welch came to Turner Bartels on May 21 to give the school’s award winners their trophies.
“You have an amazing PTSA here at Turner Bartels,” Vaughn said. “We’re here to celebrate all of their hard work and what they give back to the community. Congratulations to Ali, to all of the other members and the work that they do and just thank you for everything you contribute. It really means a lot and it has a huge impact.”
Congratulations to the Turner Bartels PTSA Board: President Ali Wilbur, VP Nicole Reber, Treasurer Renee Krimetz, Recording Secretary Joe Kelly, VP of Fundraising Rebecca Reid, Corresponding Secretary Jenelle Bell, VP of Marketing Erin Delk Neylan, VP of Events Holley Townsend & VP of In- School Service Stephanie Rubly.
(L.-r.) PTSA VP of Events & Volunteer of the Year Holley Townsend, VP Nicole Reber & President Ali Wilbur pose with the hundreds of cereal boxes the PTSA collected for a service project..
(Photos from the Scripps National Spelling Bee and Associated Press Websites)
We first told you about Bruhat Soma — the New Tampa resident who won this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 30 — two years ago, when he was a 10-year-old fifth grader who missed attending the finals that year because he came down with Covid-19.
Bruhat, who then finished 74th at the 2023 Scripps Bee, not only won the title this year, he did so with what has to be considered the most amazing performance in the 96-year history of the Bee — even more incredible than it was controversial.
For only the second time ever (the only other time was in 2022), the final two contestants had to compete in a lightning-round tiebreaker known as a “spell-off,” where each contestant is given 90 seconds to correctly spell as many words as they can. Bruhat’s final round opponent — Faizan Zaki, a 12-year-old 6th grader from Allen, Texas — successfully spelled an impressive 20 words in 90 seconds, but Bruhat set a new spell-off record by spelling an other-worldly 29 words correctly in the same amount of time.
Although Bruhat told the Associated Press (AP) he was nervous about the spell-off, he calmly zipped through every word, from “abseil” (actually his last word of the spell-off) to “wenzel” by miming himself typing each word as he spelled it. If you haven’t yet watched his spell-off performance, you really should. AP’s article said he sounded more like an auctioneer than a speller.
As the champion, Bruhat receives a trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.
According to the AP, Bruhat said he “rehearsed the spell-off every day for six months. I was pretty confident that I had a chance at winning because I’ve been working so hard…and I really wanted to win. That’s why I practiced the spell-off so much.”
The AP story also said although there was no doubt Bruhat was a worthy champion, “the conclusion left many observers disappointed and confused.
“The finals began with eight spellers, the fewest since 2010,” the AP report said, “and it was clear that Scripps was trying to fill the 2-hour broadcast window on Ion, a network owned by the Cincinnati-based media company. Frequent, lengthy commercial breaks allowed spellers to mill about at the side of the stage, chatting with their coaches, relatives and supporters.
“And then, Bee officials announced it was time for the tiebreaker before Bruhat and Faizan were even given a chance to compete in a conventional round. The competition rules state that a spell-off is used in the interest of time, but Scripps still squeezed in another commercial break between the tiebreaker and the announcement of Bruhat’s victory.
“In the tiebreaker — which was used once before, when Harini Logan of Texas correctly spelled 21 words in 90 seconds in 2022 — “the winning word is the one that gives a speller one more correct word than their competitor.” Although it was actually his 29th correct word, not his 21st, Scripps said, “Bruhat’s winning word was ‘abseil,’ defined as “descent in mountaineering by means of a rope looped over a projection above.”
After the competition ended, and a clearly sad Faizan graciously shook his hand, Bruhat told the AP, “I always want to win. And this was, like, my main goal. I’m just really happy that I won this.”
Bruhat is the second straight champion from the Tampa Bay area, and his victory means 29 of the last 35 spelling champs have been Indian American.
He also is the second New Tampa resident to claim the title — former Benito Middle School eighth grader Nupur Lala was the first, after winning in 1999. Nupur’s journey to the crown inspired a new generation of spellers, after her triumph was featured in the documentary “Spellbound.” Now a neuro-oncologist, Nupur returned to the Bee this year for the first time in a decade.
Turner Bartels principal LaMarr Buggs said that Bruhat’s performance was “Unbelievable. I honestly was nervous about the spell-off because the other kid (Faizan) seemed faster during the regular rounds, but wow. Just wow! Everyone at the school is so proud that he is one of ours.”
Buggs also said that after Bruhat, who lives “within walking distance of the school in Live Oak Preserve,” is finished with a whirlwind media tour, including an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmell Live!” and other national talk shows, a “welcoming committee” from Turner Bartels plans to greet Bruhat and his family at Tampa International Airport upon their return.
Bruhat Soma isn’t exactly sure what “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis” means (it’s a synonym for the disease known as silicosis), but the 45-letter word, the longest in the English language, gives him no trouble when it comes to spelling it, or pronouncing it for that matter.
That shouldn’t come as any surprise, considering that Bruhat, a 5th grader at Turner Bartels K-8 School, is something of a world-class word speller.
This week, the 10-year-old whiz kid will compete at the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
Bruhat (who will be wearing No. 38 at the competition) will be one of 234 kids vying for the title. The Bee begins May 31; the Semifinals (June 1) and Finals (June 2) will be hosted by former “Roots” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” star LeVar Burton will air on the Ion TV network at 8 p.m. each night.
Bruhat will be one of the youngest competitors, but not the youngest — that honor will go to Matthew G. Yi, a 7-year-old 4th grader from New Orleans. But, Bruhat is already battle-tested.
Last year, he finished second at the Regional qualifier, stumbling on the word “caryatid” (a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column), which he incorrectly spelled “carotid.”
Ever since, he has had just one goal:
Being the champ.
“I just like competitions. I really want to get that trophy,” Bruhat says, his eyes widening and a large grin filling his face. “It’s so big!”
The winner also receives $50,000.
Bruhat has only been competing in spelling bees for three years. His dad, Srinivas Soma, signed him up when he was in the second grade for a spelling and math bee put on by the North South Foundation (aka North South), which organizes educational contests like spelling, math and geography bees, as well as others.
(l.-r.) Turner-Bartels principal LaMarr Buggs and gifted teacher Laurie Gonzalez, with Scripps National Spelling Bee contestant Bruhat Soma and his father Srinivas. (Photo: Charmaine George)
Although he didn’t have time to prepare, Bruhat finished first in the math bee, and sheepishly says he was eighth in spelling.
“There was no pressure,” dad Srinivas says. “He liked it. He started to show interest in it.”
Srinivas says Bruhat now has even more interest in reading and spelling, devouring everything in sight. He will read just about any piece of paper or book he can get his hands on, and works at least an hour a day on his spelling online at SpellPundit.com.
“I like unusual words,” Bruhat says. “If I see a word with an unusual spelling, I try to find out more information about it.”
Like “cwm” (pronounced “koom”), an ancient Celtic instrument similar to a violin. And yes, cwm is in the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary.
“I like eccentric words like that,” Bruhat says.
For his end-of-the-year gifted class project at Turner Bartels, Bruhat created his own alphabet (with uppercase and lowercase letters) and wrote a poem about soccer in his new language.
“He excels in mathematics, but his real love is words,” says his gifted class teacher Laurie Gonzalez,
His classmates, and the entire school, will be pulling hard for Bruhat.
“He is an amazing kid,” Gonzalez says. “He is gentle, kind and wicked smart. The other kids are very supportive of his achievements and they are kind of in awe of his level of intelligence.”
His buddy, Tejas Gattu, is sure to be watching as well.
“He (Tejas) always, like, tells me, ‘Wow, you’re the champion,’” Bruhat says. “One time, at a North South Regional, he said out loud so everyone could hear, ‘Bruhat, are you the state spelling bee champion?’ I was like, I already told you. I think he’s excited, he thinks it’s a big deal. He’s my best friend.”
Srinivas, who is originally from Nalgonda is southern India, says the cheering section at home — his mother Jyothi and sisters Reshma (6) and Laasya (8) — and in the Live Oak Preserve community are ready to root for Bruhat.
“There will be a lot of people cheering for him,” Srinivas says.
Bruhat will need the good vibes in what is sure to be a pressure-packed week.
While he hopes to see the White House, the Washington Monument and as many other memorials as he has time for, the Spelling Bee competition will be fierce. Since there were eight co-champions in 2019, the Scripps organizers have made the event more difficult. It now includes definitions in some rounds and, yes, the words are even tougher.
“I watched the 2019 spelling bee and I knew all the words, or like 98 percent of them,” Bruhat says. “In 2021, it was more like 50 percent.”
But, he is ready. He will be trying to become the second New Tampa student to win the national bee, joining Benito Middle’s Nupur Lala, who won the title on her second try in 1999 as a 14-year-old by spelling “logorrhea.”
“I’m very excited to compete, but when the competition day comes closer, I’ll probably feel kind of nervous,” Bruhat says. “For now, I’m excited. My goal is to become the Scripps Spelling Bee national champion. I have prepared for that.”
