Doylestown Teen Makes Semifinals at National Bee

She handled "anachronism" and "rhabdomancer" with ease, but "boudin" was her downfall.

Still, Anahita Iyer returns to Doylestown a champion in the eyes of those who know her best.

"Anahita is a fantastic kid who works hard at everything she does,"  said Catherine Goodbody Levesque. "We are so excited for her!"

Iyer, 13, is an 8th grader at Tohickon Middle School, where Levesque is a librarian. She was in Washington D. C. this week facing down 274 other spellers from across the country and Canada in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Iyer was one of only 41 students to advance to the semifinals.

It was her second time participating in the national bee, having made it to the national round previously in 2008.

Iyer, who plays violin in the orchestra at Tohickon, also is an honor roll student and participated in Reading Olympics. After school, she likes to play ping pong or Wii.

She advanced as far as the seventh round of the bee. The eventual winner was Sukanya Roy, 14, of Wilkes Barre, who won in the 20th round with "cymotrichous."

The Scripps National Spelling Bee says it is the longest running educational program in the country. It is run on a nonprofit basis by the E.W. Scripps company and local sponsors across the country.

The Bucks County bee had for years been sponsored by The Intelligencer, but the newspaper dropped its sponsorship. The Pennridge Community Education Foundation stepped in and raised money to cover the costs of holding the bee.

Iyer won the that regional bee in March, assuring herself a trip to D.C.

This year, 12 of the 275 spellers competing in the national bee were from Pennsylvania.