Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion returns to heroes welcome

CLEVELAND - After what amounted to a cross country victory lap, Anamika Veeramani, the 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion, returned home to a hero's welcome Wednesday night.

Friends and family from North Royalton and Incarnate Word Academy in Parma Heights, where Anamika missed her 8th grade graduation Monday to be on "Regis & Kelly" in New York City, were there with flowers, signs, balloons and proclamations.

"I love New York I want to live there when I'm older hopefully," said Anamika. 

But it's seeing her friends and family here at home that left this teen of so many words at a loss for them.

"I was really surprised and it's the best feeling when all of your friends come to support you," she said.

Anamika won Friday night by correctly spelling "stromuhr," a word she's come across before.  

"I studied that word before but I wasn't 100 percent confident I'd get it right until Mrs. Brooks said it was right.  It only sunk in a couple of days later that I won the Scripps National Spelling Bee."

To get to this point wasn't easy for the 14-year-old, but it was work well worth it.  Now that she's achieved this goal, she's looking to start high school at Laurel School in Shaker Heights in the fall.

First thing on the agenda, though, is being a teenager. 

"I'm gonna take a break, like sleep a lot. I'm gonna golf and dance and write. Everything I want to do," she said.