[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 81 (Friday, June 1, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E964]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   RECOGNIZING MS. SNIGDHA NANDIPATI

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                         HON. BRIAN P. BILBRAY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, June 1, 2012

  Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Ms. Snigdha Nandipati, 
the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee champion from Rancho 
Penasquitos, a community from my district in San Diego, California.
  The winning word, guetapens, means to ambush, snare or trap. While 
not many people know what this word means, even less know how to spell 
it. Ms. Nandipati did. The eighth-grader from Francis Parker Middle 
School, armed with her lucky key chain, defeated 277 of the country's 
best spelling bee competitors in a three-day competition to win the 
coveted title.
  As with all things, the achievement does not tell the entire story. 
In preparation for this competition, Ms. Nandipati studied six hours a 
day on a computer program created by her father, designed to generate 
random words for her to spell. If that was not enough, she showed 
initiative by founding her school's own spelling bee club so students 
could hone their competition skills and challenge each other.
  Consider this: as this statement is typed on Microsoft Word, spell 
check displays its signature hashed-red line below the winning word 
indicating that it is either incorrectly spelled or the computer does 
not recognize the word; concluding that even Bill Gates, founder of 
Microsoft, does not recognize or know how to spell the word Ms. 
Nandipati prevailed with.
  I hope my colleagues will join me along with many proud San Diegans 
in recognizing the fine achievement of Ms. Nandipati. Without question, 
her hard work, initiative and success are worthy of recognition by the 
House of Representatives.

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