Roshan Kaushik spells victory at the regional spelling bee
Mar 15, 2025 09:41AM ● By Peri Kinder
Roshan Kaushik won the 2025 Northern Utah Regional Spelling Bee presented by the City Journals. The 13-year-old will represent the state at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. at the end of May. (Peri Kinder/City Journals)
The fourth time was the charm for Roshan Kaushik who has competed at the Northern Utah Regional Spelling Bee since he was 9 years old. Now, at 13, Roshan is the bee winner and will compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., with the finals held on May 29.
After 31 rounds, Roshan spelled “peremptorily” to win the title, beating out Uuganbayar Tserendemberel, a third-grader from Beehive STEM in Sandy. Nine-year-old Samhita Kapu (American Preparatory Academy) took third place at the event. Roshan is a seventh-grader at Challenger Traverse Mountain in Lehi.
“This feels amazing to win,” Roshan said. “I’ve been working for this since fourth grade. I just try my best and memorize as much as I can. My biggest strength is definitely memorization.”
More than 140 spellers qualified for the regional bee held at Wasatch Junior High School on March 15. Representing more than 100 schools from Weber to Utah County, the spellers completed a written spelling test and a round of on-stage spelling before the group was narrowed down to 14 finalists.
Along with the top three finishers, the following students competed in the finals: Acav Srivastava (Silver Mesa Elementary), Vivian Le (Challenger), Mishra Rayansh (Woodstock Elementary), Ayansh Sahu (American Preparatory Academy), Elizabeth Larsen (American Heritage School), Valle Victor (Shadow Valley Elementary), Palash Patil (American Preparatory Academy), Perina Xie (Orem Elementary), Sara Traore (Summit Academy), Roya Lilla (Channing Hall) and Krista Allred (American Heritage School).
City Journals publisher Bryan Scott has organized the Northern Utah Regional Spelling Bee for 11 years. The City Journals pays for the winner and one parent to attend the national event in Washington, D.C. Scott’s impressed with the kids who work so hard learning the words for the spelling bee each year.
“Spelling is important, whether you’re reading a newspaper or whether you’re coding,” Scott said. “I think the coolest thing about today is celebrating kids that probably aren’t going to get celebrated on the football field or the soccer pitch or the basketball court. You look at these kids and they’re the brightest of the bright.”
Brooke Powell was last year’s co-champion for the regional bee. She and co-winner Sophia Montana attended the Scripps event in 2024. Brooke attended this year’s bee and offered some advice to the winner about being on the national stage.
“When I felt stressed, I studied, just kept studying the words,” she said. “I think the funnest thing about [the national event] was being there and meeting all the other spellers.”
The 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee, held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. Participating spellers can engage in outings and events during Bee Week, like field trips to historical sites, before the competition begins. For more information, visit SpellingBee.com.
