R-E-M-I-N-I-S-C-E-N-T was seventh grader Ananya Aggarwal’s winning word at the Columbia Missourian Regional Spelling Bee, in a moment she’s sure to recall fondly for years to come.
Ananya, a Columbia Independent Schools student, secured her championship title after 90 minutes and eight rounds of competition.
This was Ananya’s third regional spelling bee. As a dancer, pianist and second-degree taekwondo black belt, she has a busy schedule — but when time allows, she squeezes in spelling practice with her mom. Over the years she has kept a notebook of every word she has misspelled while practicing to ensure memorization moving forward.
“I read a lot, so whenever I see a word, I see it in text. So that has trained my mind, whenever I hear a word, I try to envision how it would be printed,” Ananya said. Her favorite book series is Harry Potter.
Ananya’s win was the first win outside of the Shetty family since 2019. The Shetty sisters have long dominated the competition but have officially aged out; Jiya Shetty won the regional bee in 2020 and 2021 before her younger sister, Aanya continued her success with wins in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
This year, 12 counties competed at the “Buzz to the Top” bee: Audrain, Boone, Callaway, Cole, Cooper, Howard, Miller, Montgomery, Moniteau, Morgan, Osage and Randolph counties. With one student competing from each school, 47 schools participated — an increase of 13 from last year’s nail-biter competition. Ten schools from Jefferson City registered for the competition for the first time this year.
Just before 4:30 p.m., the eager and anxious students filed in from the back of the theater and climbed onstage to start the competition. Some students enthusiastically smiled, excited to start, while others wore more stoic expressions, anxious of the competition ahead of them.
Columbia Missourian managing editor Jeanne Abbott served as the competition’s judge alongside Anna Watson. KOMU 8 news anchor Evie Allen was the pronouncer and Ellie Newberry-Wortham was the time keeper and arbitrator.
The first round kicked off with W-I-N-C-E, knocking the first speller out of competition.
Each speller received one word per round and could ask for a definition, the language of origin, a repetition of the word, any alternative pronunciations and ask for it to be used in a sentence. Spellers had two minutes to provide their spelling with the opportunity to restart as long as no letters that were already spoken were changed.
As the second round concluded, only 15 spellers remained. The third round eliminated another four. The fourth round was a doozy, and only three spellers advanced.
Ananya, Isabel Na and Atticus Rollins all advanced beyond the fifth round, correctly spelling A-G-A-T-E, T-R-A-P-E-Z-O-I-D and S-T-E-G-O-S-A-U-R, respectively.
Isabel was eliminated in the sixth round after misspelling P-I-N-N-A-T-E.
Ananya started round seven strong with a correct spelling of F-E-U-D-A-L-I-S-M. Atticus, her final competitor, followed with an incorrect spelling of G-L-A-D-I-A-T-O-R-I-A-L where he skipped the second “a.” To finalize her win in an eighth round with a championship word, Ananya correctly spelled R-E-M-I-N-I-S-C-E-N-T.
After Ananya’s correct spelling of R-E-M-I-N-I-S-C-E-N-T was confirmed, Missourian executive editor Elizabeth Stephens presented Ananya with her first place trophy, backpack and gifts — courtesy of The E.W. Scripps Co.
After accepting her award, Ananya reunited with her mom, the two embracing in a hug. After several audience members congratulated her, Ananya posed in front of an outer space themed background with her new trophy.
Ananya said it felt “amazing” to win and it was not something she expected. While on stage, the thought “I hope I win” raced through her mind as she got closer and closer to a first place title.
Ananya’s mother, Deepti Bahl, shared a similar sentiment.
“My heartbeat was getting fast every time she was spelling,” Bahl said. “I was glad that even though she was nervous, she was able to think through and answer the questions correctly.”
As the 2025 Columbia Missourian Regional Spelling Bee Champion, Ananya will represent the Columbia Missourian at the 100th year of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, taking place over three days beginning May 27.
