Navajo Nation spelling bee champ fails to advance in DC contest

Thursday, May 31, 2012  

The top speller on the Navajo Nation competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., this week.

Aarish Raza, 13, is from Chinle, Arizona. He attends Chinle Junior High, a public school on the reservation.

Raza correctly spelled the words “vettura” and “alcazar” during the competition on Wednesday but didn't get enough words right in the first round to advance to the semifinals, Cronkite News Service reported.

“All that are here are winners,” Mohammad Raza, Aarish’s father, told Cronkite. “Aarish did his best and that’s all we care about.”

Raza was sponsored by The Navajo Times, the tribal newspaper.

Get the Story:
Goodyear teen survives early rounds, to get to National Spelling Bee semifinals (Cronkite News Service 5/31)