Spelling success. (Making a Difference).

Private and home schoolers took first and second place in the annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee at the Grand Hyatt Washington hotel in the nation's capital on May 28th and 29th. The new champ (and 76th winner of the event) is 13-year-old Sal Gunturi of Plano, Texas, who recently completed eighth grade at the St. Mark's School of Texas, a nonsectarian independent school in Dallas with an enrollment of just over 800 boys in grades one through 12.

This year's final field of 251 contestants, ages eight to 15, was the largest ever. Participants qualified by winning one of the preliminary events sponsored throughout the United States and in Europe, Guam, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, and American Samoa. Thirty-one home schoolers, 53 private school students, and 167 government school attendees earned trips to Washington.

Young Sai told reporters that his goal had been to at least place higher than he had in past years. His steady ascent to the top included ties for 32nd place in 2000, 16th place in 2001, and 7th place in 2002. At the end of nearly nine hours of grueling final-round competition on May 29th, Sai emerged the winner after correctly spelling "pococurante," a word that suggests nonchalance or indifference.

In his spare time, Sai plays the violin and studies Indian classical music. Warren Foxworth, head of the St. Mark's middle school, describes him as a "very strong student, an Honor Roll student, popular among the boys and involved in a lot of activities." Sai's mother, Lakshmi, is a homemaker, and his father, Sarma, is a chemical engineer with Dallas-based Texas Instruments Inc.

Sai modestly claims that, in the end, his winning effort came down to luck: "It is impossible to memorize the whole dictionary. It just so happened that I got the words I knew."

In addition to the first-place trophy, Sai received $12,000, a new encyclopedia set, and sundry other gifts. Incidentally, his win gave St. Mark's its third national academic or athletic championship since June of last year. Michael Martin, who recently completed his freshman year at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and Josh Branson, who now attends Northwestern University in illinois, teamed up to win the National High School Debate Tournament in June 2002. And in July 2002, Peter Lynch, who entered the University of Pennsylvania a few weeks later, captured the individual Junior National Rowing Championship.

The runner-up in this year's spelling bee was 14-year-old home schooler Evelyn Blacklock of Tuxedo Park, New York. She was confounded by the silent in the word "gnathonic," which means "marked by exhibiting a fawning attentiveness." Gracious in defeat, she admitted that she did not expect to finish as high as she did, telling reporters, "I just wanted to do better than last year;" when she tied for 59th.

Home schoolers have compiled an impressive record in national spelling and geographic bees in recent years. They won the 1997 and 2000 spelling contests, while in 2001, the victor was a home schooler who had recently enrolled in a private school. Home schoolers also took top honors in the 1999,2002, and 2003 geographic bees (for a profile of this year's winner see page 30).