The second and third-generation Indian-Americans, who are not immigrants but natives of America, will be participating in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
This year’s event is set to begin on Tuesday (28) at a convention center outside Washington, and as usual, many of the top contenders are Indian Americans. This includes Shradha Rachamreddy, Aryan Khedkar, Bruhat Soma, and Ishika Varipilli.
According to census data, nearly 70 per cent of Indian-born U.S. residents arrived after 2000, coinciding with the surge in Indian American spelling bee champions. Before 1999, there were only two Indian American Scripps winners.
Since then, 28 of the 34 champions have been Indian Americans, including three consecutive years of Indian American co-champions and one year (2019) when eight champions were declared, seven of whom were of Indian descent.
The experiences of first-generation Indian Americans and their spelling bee champion children highlight the economic success and cultural influence of the nation’s second-largest immigrant group.
Balu Natarajan became the first Indian American champion of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 1985.
As of 2022, 3.1 million Indian-born people were living in the U.S., with Indian American households having a median income of $147,000—more than twice the median income of all U.S. households, according to census data. Indian Americans were also more than twice as likely to hold college degrees.
In fiscal year 2021, Indians received 74 per cent of the H-1B visas for specialized occupations, and in the 2022–23 academic year, a record nearly 269,000 students from India were enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities, according to the Institute of International Education.
These numbers depict a high-achieving demographic well-suited for success in academic competitions.
Ganesh Dasari, whose daughter and son both made multiple appearances at the Scripps bee, holds a doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Cambridge and was recruited to the U.S. to work for ExxonMobil on an H-1B visa. He quickly obtained a green card.
