7th-grader reaches national math, spelling competitions

Hoover seventh-grader Sid Doppalapudi recently had two opportunities to compete on the national stage.

Sid, who is a student at Altamont School, earned spots in the MathCounts national competition and the Scripps National Spelling Bee, both held in late May with middle school contestants from across U.S. states and territories. This is his second time in the MathCounts national competition.

“Math really comes to me sometimes and it’s fun,” Sid said. “I like how there’s multiple ways to solve a problem, and it’s not just one thing you can do.”

Sid placed second in the state MathCounts competition, earning one of four places for Alabama students to compete nationally. Prior to the competition, he said he was studying math nearly every day to prepare with the help of his teachers at Altamont, the Birmingham Math Academy and his father, Harish Doppalapudi. Sid said his mother is the one who keeps him organized and makes it possible for him to participate in these competitions.

He said there’s less pressure for him at the national level than at the state and chapter levels of competition.

“For national competition, since there’s no pressure on me to get first or anything, I can just do my best,” he said.

He placed in the top 30 percent of 244 students at the national competition, held in Washington, D.C. May 12-15. The Alabama team placed 16th in the nation.

Meeting the other contestants and exchanging the special pins each state receives was one of his favorite parts of the national competition.

“It’s going to be new problems we’ve never seen before, so it’s going to be fun to see how many know and see if I can solve them,” Sid said as he was prepping for the competition.

He also earned a spot in the Scripps spelling bee through the RSVBee program, which allows school bee winners to apply for spots in the national bee along with the winners in each sponsored region.

“We applied and we were lucky to get in,” said his mother, Harini Doppalapudi.

Spelling is not as much of a focus for Sid as math, Harini Doppalapudi said, but he often has a book in his hands and has been competing in bees since fourth grade. Sid said he spent more time preparing for MathCounts than the Scripps bee, especially when balanced with classes, final exams, playing soccer and his other hobbies.

“It’s exciting. Math has been his focus. He’s also very good at spelling, but we can’t do both at that level, so you’ve got to pick one,” Harini Doppalapudi said.

Sid made it through four rounds of competition at the Scripps bee. Prior to the bee, Sid said he wasn’t too worried about trying to win, but he wanted to enjoy the experience of competing and watching the other students on stage.

Learn more about MathCounts at mathcounts.org and the Scripps bee at spellingbee.com.