License to Thrive

"Queen Bee"

Kavya Shivashankar, an eighth grader from Olathe, Kansas who was making her fourth appearance at the competition, orrectly spelled L-a-o-d-i-c-e-a-n to win the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday night. The third place finisher, Aishwarya Pastapur, was a childhood friend of Shivashankar.

Shivashankar finished in the Top 10 each of the last three years and was was considered one of the favorites entering the bee. She enjoys playing the violin, bicycling, swimmming and learning Indian classical dance.  She plans to become a neurosurgeon.