Beneath the glare of spotlights, perched uneasily in plastic chairs, more than two dozen local students psych themselves up, prepping for a mental challenge aimed at answering a very specific question: “Who among these is the best speller in Forsyth County Schools?”

Their faces contort in concentration and inner tension; their legs restlessly bounce. The soles of their shoes drum a frantic rhythm on the wooden, stage floor of West Forsyth High School’s auditorium.

The 2018 Forsyth County Schools Spelling Bee started at 9 a.m. Saturday — pitting some of the district’s smartest kids against one another in phonetic combat. It wasn’t until roughly four hours later that a winner had been decided to represent Forsyth County in the upcoming Region 4 spelling bee Feb. 24. 

After nearly 40 rounds of spelling words from the English language and beyond, 12-year-old Prajwal Saokar, a seventh-grade student at Riverwatch Middle Schools was the champion.

First runner up was Rikhil Ranjit of Brandywine Elementary School; second runner up, Tenzin Michti Chaudhary, Whitlow Elementary School; third runner up, Sahith Rajesh, Haw Creek Elementary School; and alternate finalist, Tanushka Mithun, Daves Creek Elementary School.

A few of the mental stumpers disqualified competitors. Some of the culprits: gazpacho, impasse, vigilante, piccolo, gulden and endocrinologist.

Saokar, who also took first place in the previous year’s districtwide spelling bee, won the bee by correctly spelling “tour de force.”

Moments after his victory, Saokar reacted with excitement.

“I was kind of just like ‘wow, I might be able to do this,’” Saokar said. “I kind of thought I might win because I won last year, [but] it was definitely tougher competition this year and more rounds … last year it was only 14 or 15 rounds.”

He said he studies at least one hour per day, adding that many of the words that he spelled during the Forsyth County Schools spelling bee Saturday he had never heard. Because he has made it a point to study language and the way letters are put together with regard to word origins, however, he was able to reason out the spellings of unknown words.

“I try to learn the language’s rules, so I try to use those rules if I don’t know a word,” Saokar said, adding that he’ll also often pretend to write out the word on his palm during competition, which helps him visualize how it’s spelled.

Susie Charles-Carr, one of three judges who oversaw the event, said the fact that the bee went so long “says a lot for our education here [in Forsyth County]. I don’t even know that I’d heard of half the words they spelled.”

Added Charles-Carr: “They all did really great.”

Event caller Victoria Tobin agreed.

“They’ve just been amazing,” Tobin said, during a break halfway through the bee. “We’ve got a wonderful group of spellers this year.”