Colorado 7th grader headed to National Spelling Bee honored by Aurora mayor

A 12-year-old from Aurora is preparing to represent Colorado and compete at the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee. It’s an achievement he’s long waited for since watching his older brother place second in the national competition just three years ago.

“He was pretty good at it, and I was intrigued,” Vedanth Raju said.

The 7th grader at Aurora Quest K-8, a gifted and talented magnet school in Aurora Public Schools, said he loves words. That includes the tricky, long ones that many people may not even be able to pronounce.

“So, it’s x-i-p-h-o-p-h-y-l-l-o-u-s,” Raju spelled for CBS Colorado’s Kelly Werthmann. “You can piece that together with root words.”

“That went over my head. I’m going to be real honest with you,” Werthmann replied with a laugh.

Just sit with Raju for a few minutes and you’re bound to learn something new.

“It’s spelled s-a-m-h-a-i-n, and it means Halloween in Irish Gaelic,” he said. “It’s also really intriguing the different languages that come together to form the words.”

With support from his brother, Vikram, and a bit of sibling rivalry, the pre-teen is now gearing up for his own appearance on the national spelling bee stage in Washington, D.C. after winning the Colorado spelling bee as well as state science and engineering competition in the same week.

“There’s a lot of pressure from my brother because he was so successful,” said Raju, “but he also teaches me a lot of spelling tips and things about the etymology.”

“I think it’s really cool that I did that in the same week because those are two big achievements,” he continued.

His teachers, classmates, and now even city leaders think it’s really cool, too. On Tuesday, Aurora’s mayor surprised Raju with a special proclamation during a school assembly.

“Now, therefore I, Mike Coffman, Mayor of the City of Aurora, do hereby proclaim March 25, 2025, as Vedanth Raju Day,” the mayor said, which was followed by an eruption of cheers from students and staff.

How does Raju feel about the honor and community support as he prepares for his biggest competition yet? Well, he’ll spell it out for you.

“I-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-e,” he said. “I love Aurora and I’m really proud of myself and really happy that I get to represent this wonderful city.”

With just two months until the national spelling bee, Raju is kicking his studying into high gear, studying 3 to 4 hours on weekdays and upwards of 8 hours on the weekends. He and his family will head to Washington, D.C. for the competition on May 25.

Kelly Werthmann

Kelly Werthmann is the weekend evening anchor and a weekday reporter at CBS News Colorado. Read her latest reports or check out her bio and send her an email.