Roanoke County Student Wins Fourth Straight County-Wide Spelling Bee
Sachith Gullapalli - County-wide Spelling Bee Winner
Sullenness. That’s the word that 8th grade Hidden Valley Middle School student Sachith Gullapalli spelled correctly in the eighth round to win his fourth straight Roanoke County Spelling Bee, held February 11 at Glenvar Middle School. Sreeroopa Som from Clearbrook Elementary and Marvi Ali from Cave Spring Middle were the alternates.
Gullapalli will compete in the Roanoke regional spelling bee, sponsored by The Roanoke Times, to be held March 14 at the Holiday Inn Airport. Winners from the regional bee go to the 82nd Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee, which takes place May 26-28 in Washington, DC.
Gullapalli and 22 other elementary and middle school students competed in the county-wide bee. Each student had previously won spelling bees at his or her individual school in order to qualify for the county-wide bee (see school-level winners list below).
“We’re so proud of Sachith,” said Roanoke County Superintendent Dr. Lorraine Lange. “He has done such a good job of representing Roanoke County before and I know he will do a great job again this year,” Lange added.
Gullapalli is no stranger to the National Spelling Bee. The last two years, Gullapalli qualified for the national bee. In 2006, he finished in 30th place and was seen during the national broadcast of the final rounds on ESPN. Last year, he was eliminated in the fourth round.
Roanoke County Schools 2009 Spelling Bee Winners and Alternates:
| School | Winner | Alternate |
| Back Creek Elementary Bent Mountain Elementary Bonsack Elementary Burlington Elementary Cave Spring Elementary Cave Spring Middle Clearbrook Elementary Fort Lewis Elementary Glen Cove Elementary Glenvar Elementary Glenvar Middle Green Valley Elementary Herman L. Horn Elementary Hidden Valley Middle Mason's Cove Elementary Mountain View Elementary Mt. Pleasant Elementary Northside Middle Oak Grove Elementary Penn Forest Elementary Roanoke County Central Middle William Byrd Middle |
Nathan Rose Kemper Scott Morgan Peroulas Tori Sigmon Sreeroopa Som Marvi Ali Roshni Lalchandani Jeremy “Logan” Sowder Emma Pearman Kayleigh Webb Jessy Wilson Cassidy Mitchely Kayoti Farinholt Sachith Gullapalli Kaileb “KK” Dilcher Katie Riddle Haley Harris Baba Penn'Timity Adam J. Wood Justin Larkin John Kotheimer Damon Childress Rachel Abshire |
Claire Overstreet Kyle Timmerman Hannah Jones Timothy Francis Nicholas Lawrence Lauren Fariss Gabriel Booth Olivia Daniels Emma Vest Brittany Mallette Anna Hall Stephanie Pekic Mercedes Collins Tara Loughery Andrea Abbott Blaine Florow Megan Kiker Maggie Zheng Austin Bane Robin Boch Sean Smith Ross Allison Cameron Field |