Columbia’s Ananya Aggarwal made it much farther this year than she did at last year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee. But in the end, she tripped over defining “valise,” a traveling bag.
Ananya, a rising ninth grader at Columbia Independent Upper School, tied for 25th place, way up from 74th last year. She made it deep into the semifinals Wednesday before being knocked out of the competition in Round 8.
When the bee started Tuesday morning, there had been 247 contestants. She wins a $500 gift card for making it to the semis.
Early Wednesday evening, Ananya said she was happy with how things went.
“Well, after I made it past quarterfinals, I’m like, OK, I did what I came here to do,” she said. “I’m going to try to make it to the next round, but if I don’t, it’s OK.”
Ananya said she felt supported by the folks back home. “I mean, an entire city is cheering me on,” she said. “It feels like a really good opportunity that I’ve been able to take.”
Ananya also reflected on what her spelling success will mean to her in high school.
“Well, for one, I’m never going to get marks off in an essay for spelling, and two, the spelling and vocabulary on the SAT. My English teacher told me there’s going to be a vocabulary section — I think that’ll really help me there,” she said.
She wasn’t sure yet how she would spend her remaining time in Washington, D.C., where the national bee was held, or how she would celebrate her run.
“We haven’t decided yet, but for one, we’re going out for dinner,” Ananya said, referring to her and her family. “Cheesecake Factory!”
It had been a long day. At the start of the quarterfinals Wednesday morning, Ananya was one of 95 spellers remaining onstage at the DAR Constitution Hall.
Not many acted like they had been there before. Some kids came off as stoic, most seemed nervous, but Ananya didn’t blink. She had been in the same position a year ago, and she acted like it.
In Round 4, spellers had 90 seconds to spell the word they are given once it is first pronounced. Ananya took only 30.
The pronouncer gave her the word “chordate.”
That prompted Ananya’s one clarifying question: “Can I have all the information, please?”
Chordate is a noun, defined as any animal belonging to the phylum Chordata; an animal that at some point in its life has a rod-like structure called a notochord during its development.
By the time the clarification was finished, Ananya heard all she needed to hear. Within seconds, she spelled C-H-O-R-D-A-T-E and, for the third time this week, was met with a smile from the judges and that sweet word, “Correct.”
By the end of the round, 17 more contestants were out.
Similar to Round 2 on Tuesday, the next round of the quarterfinals was a multiple choice question in which contestants had 30 seconds to answer the definition of a word correctly.
During this round last year, Ananya incorrectly defined the word “vapid,” bringing her run at the 2025 bee to an end.
This time, she had to define the word “disconsolate.” Once again presented with three answer choices, she made the correct decision without hesitation.
“Someone that is described as disconsolate is, A, deeply sad or dejected,” Ananya said.
Ananya was now in uncharted territory. The most recent speller sponsored by the Columbia Missourian to make it two rounds of the quarterfinals was Aanya Shetty in 2022.
The third round of the quarterfinals was identical to the first: Just spell the word correctly and make sure to do so within the 90-second limit.
Her linguistic obstacle this time? The noun “Mozambique.”
Again, Ananya was quick with her conviction. She used the same process and same routine to deal with the new word. She asked the pronouncer the exact same question she had earlier: “Can I have all the information, please?”
Mozambique can be described as a lightweight dress fabric in small fancy patterns that is loosely woven with a cotton warp and a mohair weft.
Ten letters later, without fluster, Ananya was correct again.
Columbia’s champ had now entered elite company. She was in the semifinals, one of 54 contestants and the only one from Missouri. Ananya’s goal after last year’s run in the national bee was to simply do better than she did last time. She had already passed that milestone when she got through the quarterfinals.
Now, Ananya was playing with house money. After waiting patiently for the 25 contestants in front of her to determine their fates, it was Ananya’s turn to determine her own — and the word to spell was “casula.”
To the naked eye, casula doesn’t exactly look daunting. However, because of the sound the “s” makes when the word is said, it can be tricky for spellers to identify. It was even referred to as a land mine by the bee commentators because of the way it can trip most contestants up.
Ananya was careful. She quizzed the pronouncer about the word’s origin and its various pronunciations.
By the time she reached a conclusion in her head, she had only 15 seconds left. Appearing calm, Ananya spelled C-A-S-U-L-A and moved on to Round 8.
The highly climactic first round of the semifinals eliminated almost half of the spellers who entered the afternoon. But the vocabulary round, with “valise,” awaited.
Because of her age, this was Ananya’s last time to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. She had this advice for future contestants: “Don’t worry — you’ll do great.”
