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NORTH AMERICAN Newsline JUNE 14, 2024 | The Indian Eye 30

NEWSMAKERS OF THE WEEK

Selected stories about Indian diaspora from our website www.theindianeye.com

ROMESH RATNESAR BRUHAT SOMA

Atlantic Council names 12-year-old wins Scripps

Journalist as Senior Vice National Spelling Bee

President of Engagement

ruhat Soma, 12, has won the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Bruhat
spelled 29 words correctly in the tiebreaker, beating Faizan Zaki by nine,
Bto win the title on Thursday night. He had won three consecutive bees
before taking the stage at a convention center outside Washington for the most
prestigious spelling competition in the English language. He beat Faizan Zaki,
12, in a spell-off after eight finalists were whittled down to two. Bruhat will take
home the championship trophy and a $50,000 prize.
he Atlantic Council has named Romesh Ratnesar as its senior vice presi- Scripps said Bruhat’s winning word was “abseil,” defined as “descent in
dent of engagement, as announced by the Washington, based think tank. mountaineering by means of a rope looped over a projection above.” In the
TAn accomplished media leader and former State Department official tiebreaker—which was used once before, when Harini Logan won in 2022—
will lead the council’s events and communications teams from June 24. the winning word is the one that gives a speller one more correct word than
The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of interna- their competitor.
tional affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. Headquartered in Wash- He is the second straight champion from the Tampa Bay area, and his
ington, it manages 16 regional centers and functional programs related to victory means 29 of the last 35 spelling champs have been Indian American.
international security and global economic prosperity. His parents immigrated from the southern Indian state of Telangana, a re-
Ratnesar said, “the council is renowned for its relevant and rigorous work gion that is well-represented among the quarter-century run of Indian Amer-
across the world’s most pressing issues.” He said he’s “thrilled to be joining ican champions and contenders that began in 1999 with Nupur Lala’s victory,
such an innovative and dynamic organization, and to help shape its future which was later featured in the documentary “Spellbound.”
direction.” Bruhat said he hoped to have a relaxing summer and spend more time
Romesh Ratnesar is an Indian American journalist and author. He is the watching and playing basketball, a passion that he set aside over the past year
Deputy Editor of Bloomberg Businessweek and former Deputy Managing while preparing for the bee.
Editor at TIME magazine. He managed TIME’s Baghdad bureau in the after- Bruhat’s victory is also a triumph for a previously unknown former speller-
math of the 2003 invasion. Earlier, he worked as chief of staff to U.S. Under- turned-coach: 16-year-old Sam Evans, who worked with three of the top four
secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Richard Stengel. finishers. He also tutored Faizan and Shrey, a 12-year-old from Rancho Cu-
He is the author of “Tear Down This Wall: A City, a President and the camonga, California. Both are sixth-graders and have two years of eligibility left.
Speech that Ended the Cold War,” an account of President Reagan’s 1987 Despite some surprising eliminations in the semifinals, the eight finalists
address at the Brandenburg Gate. included - 13-year-old Kirsten Tiffany Santos of Richmond, Texas; 14-year-
He has been awarded fellowships by the Hoover Institution, the New old Rishabh Saha of Merced, California; and 13-year-old Aditi Muthukumar
America Foundation, the Aspen Institute and the French-American Foun- of Westminster, Colorado. The rest were in sixth or seventh grade: 12-year-
dation. Ratnesar is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. old Shrey Parikh of Rancho Cucamonga, California; 12-year-old Faizan Zaki
He received his MA and BA in history, with distinction, from Stanford of Allen, Texas; 12-year-old YY Liang of Hartsdale, New York; and 13-year-
University. old Ananya Prassana of Apex, North Carolina. Continued on next page... >>

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