The Denver Post: Meet the 12-year-old Aurora spelling virtuoso who nearly won the Scripps National Spelling Bee
Story excerpt:
"Vikram Raju's favorite word - Houyhnhnm, a mythical race of horses in Jonathan Swift's 'Gulliver's Travels' - necessitated multiple spell-checks for this article.
But the 12-year-old Aurora spelling virtuoso broke it down with ease over the phone Friday afternoon from the Washington, D.C., area, where he was recuperating from and celebrating his second-place finish in the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee following an intense spell-off.
Spelling intrigued Vikram from a young age, he said, after realizing the words 'phone' and 'fun' started with the same sound but began with different letters.
'I got intrigued with these little quirks, and that led me to my spelling journey,' Vikram said.
Vikram, a student at Aurora Quest K-8, won his first school spelling bee in third grade and progressed from there, getting serious with a spelling coach and hours of daily studying."