Leon Sheffield Magnet School’s Deep Patel wins county spelling bee

The Morgan County Spelling Bee took place at the Somerville Baptist Church Feb. 5. The contest welcomed 32 students from area schools for the competition, and after 46 rounds, fourth-grader Deep Patel went home with the first-place trophy.

Deep said the winning the spelling bee has always been a goal of his, and he practiced for many days to prepare. “I was so proud of myself. This is the first time in the county, but I have been in the school spelling bee two times,” Deep said.

Deep’s mother Janaki Patel said her son worked extremely hard to overcome language differences in addition to learning the spelling. “I am very proud. Indian people have trouble with language, but he is doing very well,” Janaki said.

Deep is a fourth-grade student at Leon Sheffield Magnet School in Decatur. He said he first decided he wanted to compete in the spelling bee when his friend’s brother won the county bee.

Although he said he was nervous, he was able to win the competition by spelling “masala.”

“I was very nervous, but it helped when I kept spelling words right,” Deep said.

Deep will be going on to compete in Alabaster for the state bee. He said it will be the continuation of his dream – and Janaki said his win is the achievement of one of her dreams, as well. “This was my dream. I couldn’t, but he did, and I am so proud,” she said.

Janaki said Deep used Merriam-Webster websites to help him learn the correct pronunciation for the spelling bee. Despite having to work a little harder for the competition, Janaki said her son is always willing to face new challenges. “He does really good in school and in soccer. He is always ready to do something new – a new challenge,” Janaki said.

Deep said all of the hard work and effort definitely paid off. “This is the biggest trophy I have ever won,” he said.