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One word at Kansas bee spells trouble:
Olathe girl wins, but two will go to national competition

Published in "The Kansas City Star" on March 28, 2006
by Laura Bauer

Aishwarya Pastapur had waited - and studied - a year for this moment. For this word.

“Pestle”, the announcer said Saturday afternoon. He pronounced it “PES-tel” as Aishwarya stood on the stage of a packed Topeka auditorium, her only opponent - the state’s reigning spelling champ - watching and waiting. Aishwarya said, “I was like, ‘Hmmm, that’s strange. I don’t know this word’”, Olathe fifth-grader, recalled Monday. “It was a foreign word to me.”

The Morse Elementary student, who had come up short in last year’s county bee and spent countless hours preparing for this year, asked a few questions. Then she took her best shot. “P-E-S-T-I-L-E”

She was wrong.

But as it turned out, she wasn’t done. She’d have more words to spell and the day would be full of protests and disputes. The drama, not unusual on the national scene, may have been a first for Kansas. The final outcome wouldn’t be known until Monday morning.

As Aishwarya stood there, fearing she was finished, Kent Toland of Iola was ready. He did his own inquiry, finally asking the pronouncer for an alternate pronunciation of the word that he, too, didn’t quite recognize.

“PE-sel”, pronouncer Rick Douglas said, referring to the word for a hand tool used to crush substances in a mortar.

At that point, Kent knew he had it. Aishwarya realized she did indeed know the word and how to spell it. Her dad and spelling coach, Eshwar Pastapur, was headed from the back of the auditorium to the front to protest.

“As soon as he (the pronouncer) said that, I started moving forward”, said Eshwar Pastapur.

But as the dad was making his way through the maze of spectators, Kent spelled the word. Correctly.

“P-E-S-T-L-E”.

He got another. Trigonometry. He nailed it.

And before Eshwar Pastapur could complain to the judges that his daughter wasn’t given the primary pronunciation of the word, it seemed too late. The medals were being presented.

Kent got his first-place medal, tying his brother Scott, who won two Kansas titles a few years ago. Aishwarya got her second-place medal, which everyone agreed was quite a feat for a 10-year-old.

But the judges had issues to discuss and decisions to make. Aishwarya’s father had made a good point, even though he had made it late, after Kent had spelled the word. Spellers are supposed to be given the primary, preferred pronunciation of the word, said Marty Stessman, one of three judges.

Stessman checked his Webster’s III International Dictionary. “Pesel” was first; “pestel” second.

“What we felt is very simply this - the girl had been given the wrong pronunciation, and I believe that contributed to her misspelling the word”, said Stessman, a Topeka school superintendent who was judging his first bee. “I didn’t want our error to affect the outcome of the event”.

So they upheld the protest. There’d be another round.

“Before we knew it, they started taking these medals off these children’s necks”, said Karen Toland, Kent’s mom.

Kent admits he was a little shaken.

“I felt not ready to spell anymore. I was ready to go home and relax”, Kent said Monday. “Any spelling bee is just a marathon”.

He got his next word. “Hypolimnion”.

He missed it. Aishwarya got it right, then the next one she had to spell to win.

In her family’s home in Olathe on Monday, she sat up tall and smiled as she described what happened next.

“I heard my dad go, ‘Yes’”.

The Pastapur family thought the issue was over.

Then came a protest from the Tolands. And then another.

The judges, however, believed they had reached a fair and just outcome.

“There were 98 spellers and only one went home a winner”, Stessman said. “She was the winner”.

But Aishwarya’s mom, Bharati Pastapur, got a call Monday morning. So did the Tolands.

Terri Benson, marketing director of The Topeka Capital-Journal, the host of the state bee for 53 years, said both would be going to Washington in May for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

“I wanted to make it right for both of them. Both are very, very good spellers”, Benson said. “It’s a hard decision to make a final decision on either one”.

The Tolands think Kent is the winner. But on Monday, his 14th birthday, the Iola teen said he was just glad to be going.

The Pastapurs said Aishwarya won fair and square but were OK with the outcome.

“It’s all about the kids”, Bharati Pastapur said. “And two good kids are going from one state”.

Aishwarya and her dad will take a week off and then begin preparing a strategy for the national bee.

Has she learned anything?

“Ask for an alternate pronunciation”, she said smiling.

Her dad nodded. “She has learned that lesson”.