The 2009 bee
The competition was decided in Washington on 28 May 2009. Kavya Shivashankar, 13, of Olathe, Kansas, won on 'Laodicean'; Tim Ruiter, a 12-year-old from Centreville, Virginia and the only non-teenager in the finals, was runner-up on 'Maecenas'. Aishwarya Pastapur placed third after missing 'menhir', the term for a single upright prehistoric standing stone.
The field of 293 was the largest the bee had drawn at that point. Associated Press coverage from the previous day records that 41 spellers made the semi-finals, which is the stage Pastapur had to clear to reach the closing rounds at all.
The fist pump
What the reporting recorded about her, beyond the placing, was her manner. The Associated Press noted that she tended to pump her arm and exclaim 'Yes!' after getting a word right. In a competition built on stillness - a child at a microphone, a hall in silence, a bell that ends the run - visible celebration is unusual enough to be written down.
It is also a reasonable response to the format. A speller who has just survived a word has no idea whether the next one will be within reach. Each correct answer is a discrete escape, and Pastapur treated it as one.
What third place required
The bee has no aggregate score. Every competitor arrives as the winner of a regional contest and is eliminated on the first word they get wrong. To finish third in a field of 293, a speller must clear a written round, then the oral rounds, then the semi-final cut to 41, then the championship rounds, without a single error until the one that ends it.
'Menhir' is the sort of word the closing rounds are made of: a French borrowing from Breton, four consonants and two vowels, with no English cognate to lean on. Reasoning it out from a definition read aloud is a different skill from ordinary spelling, and it is the skill the bee actually tests.
The company she finished in
The 2009 podium is a useful illustration of how narrow the difference at the top is. The champion and the third-place speller were both 13. The runner-up was a year younger. All three had survived identical rounds against identical lists, and the order among them was decided by which word each of them met.
Jill Biden, then the wife of the vice-president, opened the championship rounds that evening with a remark the wire report preserved: 'I know that confidence is the most important thing you can give a child.' Of the three spellers on that stage, Pastapur was the one who showed it most visibly.
What is documented and what is not
Documented by the 2009 Associated Press reports: her age of 13, her home town of Springfield, Illinois, her third place, her elimination on 'menhir', her habit of pumping her arm and exclaiming 'Yes!', the champion and runner-up, and the record field of 293.
Not documented in those dispatches: her date of birth, her school, her family, whether she competed in other years, and anything about her life after May 2009. No IQ figure appears in any source used for this page, and the bee neither tests nor publishes one.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sophia Hoffman | United States | The 2014 Jackson County marathon spelling bee | Age 9 |
| Akshay Buddiga | United States | Fainting and recovering at the 2004 National Spelling Bee | Age 11 |
| Aishwarya Pastapur | United States | Third place at the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee | Age 13 |
| Kush Sharma | United States | Winning the 2014 Jackson County marathon spelling bee | Age 13 |
| Finola Hackett | Canada | Runner-up at the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee | Age 14 |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Third at the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee, aged 13 (AP, 28 May 2009)
- From Springfield, Illinois
- Eliminated on 'menhir'
- Noted by the AP for pumping her arm and exclaiming 'Yes!' after correct words
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- No date of birth, school or family detail appears in these sources
- Nothing here documents whether she competed in other years
- Nothing in this record documents her life after 2009
Questions people ask about Aishwarya Pastapur
What is Aishwarya Pastapur known for?
Finishing third at the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee, and for the arm pump and shouted 'Yes!' that followed her correct words.
How old is Aishwarya Pastapur?
She was reported as 13 in May 2009, which places her birth year around 1996. No date of birth appears in these sources.
Which word did she miss?
'menhir', a single upright prehistoric standing stone.
Who won the 2009 National Spelling Bee?
Kavya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kansas, on 'Laodicean'. Tim Ruiter of Virginia was runner-up on 'Maecenas'.
Where is Aishwarya Pastapur from?
Springfield, Illinois, according to the 2009 Associated Press coverage.
Where is Aishwarya Pastapur now?
Nothing in these sources documents her life after May 2009, and this page does not invent an update.
Is Aishwarya Pastapur on Wikipedia?
No standalone English Wikipedia article for her is recorded here.
What is Aishwarya Pastapur's IQ?
No IQ figure for her appears in any source used for this page.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Aishwarya’s story?
Which word ended Aishwarya Pastapur's 2009 run?
Where did she finish?
What did the AP note about her manner on stage?
Sources
- 13-year-old Kansan wins National Spelling Bee — NBC News (AP), 2009-05-28
- 41 spellers make semifinals of national bee — NBC News (AP), 2009-05-27
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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