Manav Thadani will be flying to Washington, D.C., in May to represent the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. After two grueling hours and 22 rounds, he spelled abatement correctly for the championship.
The 12-year-old seventh-grader at Antilles School on St. Thomas said he was thrilled that he won. “The real tragedy for me every year was that I came in second at my school,” Thadani said. “My goal was to beat last year’s winner at Antilles.”
Thadani said he studied long and hard, generally two hours a day with either his coach, Sonia Swan, or his mother, Asha Thadani. He said he printed the list of words from myspellit.com, the Scripps National Spelling Bee study site that focuses on around 1,150 words.
Thadani appeared calm and confident throughout the competition. “I was saying my prayers during the bee,” he said.
“Let me tell you,” his mother said, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. “I was more nervous than he was. He kept telling me not to be nervous.”
“I’m so proud of him, the school, his coach, the teachers and family,” she said, adding that “it was a joint effort with all of them.”
The young winner said the competition will be tougher in the states since there are more people in the states and therefore more competition. He also suggested the stateside contestants prepare more. 
Thadani is also a MathCounts territory champion and will be focusing on math competition Thursday, though he has varied interests that include being an avid reader and playing sports.
Thadani said he wants to attend Princeton and aspires to be a cardiologist.
Eleven other students participated Tuesday in the territory’s 40th spelling bee. It was held in the Juanita Gardine Elementary School auditorium on St. Croix.
First runner-up was Aaron Harris, a seventh-grade student at St. Patrick’s School.
Yad Bass, a 12-year-old and last year’s territorial representative from John H. Woodson Junior High School, took third place.
St. Thomas-St. John top spellers were district champion Roshini Lalwani of All Saints; Nawell Jamil of Lockhart Elementary School; Ty Massaquoi of Gifft Hill; Shymar Bazar of Gladys Abraham Elementary School and Jaden Baron of Wesleyan Academy.
St. Croix spellers were district champion Harris from St. Patrick’s, Bass from Woodson, N’bari Alexander from Church of God Holiness Academy, Indeyah Todman of Lew Muckle Elementary; Tyanna Johnson of AZ Academy and Amina Wallace of Elena Christian Jr. High School.
The students got backpacks, calculators, an electronic dictionary and educational games.
Thadani and his coach won an all-expense-paid trip to D.C., May 27 to June 2. And Thadani won a Webster’s Third New International Dictionary.
The bee is sponsored by the V.I. Daily News and the V.I. Department of Education.
