LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — One stray vowel ended Michigan’s best shot at a national spelling title in more than 80 years.

Sanvi Mandvekar, 13, of Troy, made it to the semifinals of the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee before missing “tubifacient” — an adjective meaning “secreting or constructing a tube” — by a single letter, spelling it with an “e” instead of the first “i.” 

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The eighth grader from Larson Middle School was one of just 57 spellers left standing before her exit on the evening of May 28.  The annual competition is open to students ages 8 to 14 from across the U.S. and abroad.

“I felt really grateful to be there and to have that opportunity,” Sanvi told Michigan News Source. “Just being there and having so many people supporting me back home and in D.C. was a wonderful experience.”

When asked what went through her mind onstage, Sanvi broke down the logic behind her final guess.

 “I thought of another word, ‘rubefacient,’ which is spelled with an E and pronounced the same way,” she said. “So I took that and I put the E in. It was like a 50/50 chance — and unfortunately, it fell on the other side.”

Sanvi began seriously preparing only three months before the bee, after winning her regional competition. Despite a packed extracurricular schedule, she studied an hour a day, with a focus on etymology.

“I really studied the roots of Greek and Latin,” she said. “Those are the two languages you can almost always guarantee a correct spelling because they have very defined spelling patterns. But English borrows from so many others languages — Arabic, Japanese — I tried to learn their patterns, too.”

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She called the experience one she’ll carry with her. “It’s taught me hard work and dedication,” she said. “But also, I’ve made some really awesome friends from all over the country that I’m going to say in touch with.”

Her parents say the experience was entirely self-driven.

“She did this pretty much all on her own,” her father, Vishal Mandvekar, said. “We had nothing more to offer than encouragement. We just sat back and watched her succeed.”

They said they were most struck by how calm and composed she remained under pressure.

“We saw how she presented herself, how she stayed calm, and asked the right questions,” her mother, Radhika Chinchole, said. “That’s when we realized how far she had studied on her own.”

This was Sanvi’s final year of eligibility for the bee, but she said spelling will remain part of her life. Outside the competition, she leads her school newspaper, teaches martial arts, and hopes to become a family physician.

“This has opened up so many opportunities for me to really find myself and become a better person,” Sanvi said.

The 2025 bee marked the 100th anniversary of the competition, according to The Detroit News. Only one Michigander has ever taken home the national title: Louis Edward Sissman of Detroit, who won in 1941 by spelling “initials.”

Sanvi was aiming to be the second.