Pima County Student Wins Arizona State Spelling Bee

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 22, 2021

Matt Stamp, Communications Director
520-724-8454 | 520-260-3305 (c)
matthew.stamp@pima.gov

Media Inquiries:
Matthew Feller | Arizona Educational Foundation
480-228-6407 | matthew@azedfoundation.org

 

Tucson, AZ – Tanish Doshi, an 8th grader from BASIS Oro Valley won the 2021 Arizona Spelling Bee hosted by the Arizona Educational Foundation on Saturday, March 20, 2021. Tanish correctly spelled the word “cadre” in the 25th round to win the bee. Tanish is the first winner from Pima County in the 20-year history of the AEF State Spelling Bee.

“This is a tremendous achievement for Pima County. Often times we celebrate state championships in regards to sports. The state spelling bee is equally as important and is a testament to educational success. I am truly honored to congratulate Tanish Doshi, his family, and his school. You have put Pima County on the map as a state champion for education,” says Pima County School Superintendent Dustin J. Williams.

Over 90,000 students participated in spelling bees across the state this year in hopes of making it to the state Spelling Bee. Pima County sent two students to the finals: Tanish Doshi and Brady Mau (Dove Mountain CSTEM, Marana Unified). Both students made it to the top 10 with Brady finishing in 9th place.

This year’s Arizona Spelling Bee was held in a virtual format to accommodate for COVID-19 restrictions. Spellers competed against each other from 25 different school locations across the state. “This year’s bee was uniquely challenging, and our 27 spellers did an exceptional job adapting and rising to the occasion,” says Matthew Feller, Arizona Spelling Bee Director, “I’m very proud of all of them.”

Tanish will now represent the State of Arizona in the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee. This year, the Scripps National Spelling Bee will occur in an online format for all preliminary rounds, culminating in a top 10 who will be invited by Scripps to attend the National Finals in-person at the ESPN Wide World of Sports facility in Florida.

The final rounds of the virtual 2021 Arizona Spelling Bee were recorded and will be posted to the Arizona Educational Foundation YouTube Channel on Friday, March 26th at 10:00AM.

Tanish enjoys biking and hiking the many trails around Tucson, doing crossword and jigsaw puzzles, and he can almost always be found with a book. His favorite subject in school is history although he also likes physics.

Media inquiries should go through Matthew Feller at the Arizona Educational Foundation (contact info at the top).

 

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