River Dell Youth Claims North Jersey Spelling Bee Title

After reaching the final seven competitors in 2012 at the North Jersey Spelling Bee competition, Oradell resident and River Dell Middle School student Indrani Das returned on Thursday at the annual event and claimed the title of North Jersey's top speller.

The eighth grader won the title after correctly spelling "thalassic" which refers to smaller bodies of water such as a sea or  gulfs as opposed to a larger ocean.

"Indrani told us that she had just read the word in her science textbook," Superintendent Patrick Fletcher said. "It was word number 192 of the evening. The trophy is being sent out for engraving and once that is done, it will be delivered to RDMS for us to keep on display for awhile."

The Spelling Bee, held at Bergen Community College began at 7pm with approximately 80 spellers competing and ran to 11pm. Das beat out Ethan Waldman, a sixth-grader at Yeshivat Noam in Paramus, who was vanquished by “trianon.”

As the winner, Das earned a $1,000 college scholarship and a $2,000 trip to Washington, D.C. where she will compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. She will join Roshni Kainthan, the winner of the Morris, Essex and Rockland division, in representing North Jersey and Rockland County in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May.

Through the eight rounds, Das correctly spelled the following words:panic, verboten, recriminate, slumgullion, gypsum, Beethovenian, solon, and thalassic.

Follow Patch on Facebook and Twitter or subscribe to our free daily newsletter.