Dev Shah is the 2023 National Spelling Bee Champion

The spelling bee — allegedly the longest-running educational program in America — is back, and so are its precocious spellers. They can spell, they know the definitions of arcane words, they play the cello, they want to become astrophysicists. What can’t they do?

The all-American institution, founded in 1925 and now in its 95th year, has notoriously had at least one Indian American spelling bee winner — sometimes multiple — almost every single year since 2008, except for 2021. One could almost call it not just the Scripps National Spelling Bee, but the Scripps National Indian American Spelling Bee. This year is no different. Of 231 spellers, 11 made it to the finals, of whom 10 were Indian American.