Well, it could not have got better for young Kavya Shivashankar, a 13-year-old student from Olathe, Kansas as she came out very successfully at the Scripps National Spelling Bee 2009 (2009 全美 拼字大赛)．On Thursday night she defeated the other 11 finalists to win the 82nd Scripps National Spelling Bee, taking home more than $40,000 cash money along with other prizes.
Kavya Shivashankar, whose parents migrated to the United States from India, and who aims to become a doctor, enjoys playing the violin, bicycling, swimming and learning Indian classical dance.
Thing came a bit late in Kavya's life since she could win the championship with her fourth appearance in the competition．The last three times when she had taken part in the same competition she had finished Tenth, Eighth and Fourth.
However, this time Kavya proved her courage and determination by winning the title she had been competing for so long．Her last challenge was to spell out 'Laodicean'．The word 'Laodicean' means one who is indifferent, mostly in religious matters．She spelled it correctly and a big smile appeared on her face．Kavya wrote the words on her palm each time and spelled every word correctly.
After winning Kavya exclaimed, 'I can't believe it happened..．It feels kind of unreal.' Her family was there to support her through the competition．Her father, Mirle Shivashankar said, 'The competitiveness is in her..．but she doesn' t show that．She still has that smile．That's her quality.' He went on to say that this was 'the moment' they had been waiting for so long．It was like 'a dream come true' for them.
Who is Kavya Shivashankar?