An Aurora seventh grader achieved a scholastic twofer last week, winning Denver’s regional science fair and the Colorado state spelling bee in a six-day span.
Vedanth Raju, a 12-year-old who attends Aurora Quest K-8, took home first place in the junior category at the Denver Metro Regional Science and Engineering Fair on March 2 for his project developing a plant-based ointment to treat diabetic foot ulcers.
Then, last Saturday, Vedanth prevailed at The Denver Post Colorado State Spelling Bee, nailing his championship word “fretum” — a narrow channel connecting two larger bodies of water.
The whiz kid is moving on to national competitions for both, securing spots in the Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Challenge for his science project and the upcoming Scripps National Spelling Bee.
“It’s kind of surreal,” Vedanth told The Post in an interview.
Vedanth is no stranger to the Scripps Bee after watching his older brother, Vikram Raju, take second in the national competition three years ago. Now, Vikram has become a quasi-coach for Vedanth, teaching him spelling tips and tricks that could prove useful in the big bee.
“It’s a family affair,” said Sandhya Ayyar, Vikram and Vedanth’s mom.
Vedanth said he got into spelling from watching his brother compete and wanting to follow in his footsteps.
“I liked it and started studying more and started participating in more bees,” Vedanth said. “I found I had a love for words, and I like learning about the language rules and the roots a lot.”
Vedanth typically studies for the bee three to four hours a day using online programs, he said, but now that he’s prepping for nationals, he vowed to kick the studying up a notch.
His mom said she’d hold him to that.
In Vedanth’s free time, he enjoys playing basketball on his school’s team — and, apparently, devising treatments for complex medical problems.
Vedanth, who wants to be a doctor someday, said he got the idea for his science project from his grandparents.
“There are a lot of herbal remedies in India, and one time my grandfather got a cut in his finger and he put turmeric in the wound and he said it helped heal wounds,” Vedanth said. “I decided to research herbal remedies further, and this is what I came up with.”
The 12-year-old’s project was so impressive that it made science fair judge Laurie Lyon, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus, pass it along to her microbiologist colleagues studying diabetic foot ulcers.
“Ved clearly put so much work into this,” Lyon said. “He even had animations in his video. A lot of scientists struggle to communicate why their research is important, and he had these great explanations and really distilled it down very well.”
When Lyon asked Vedanth how he was able to pull this off, she said the boy told her he called around to different lab hospitals asking for help.
“I was so impressed,” said Lyon, who plans to mentor the middle schooler. “I became a scientist because of the science fair. It makes me really excited for the next generation of scientists.”
Ayyar shares in the pride for her smarty-pants sons.
“They do all the hard work, and we just get to show off,” she said. “There have been sacrifices along the way like having to cut back on social activities or a vacation or video game time, but, overall, it’s been such an incredible journey.”
Vedanth does feel pressure to do well at the national bee in light of his brother’s success. But he’s not letting that bring him down.
“I channel the pressure into motivation, and I want to be like him and work as hard as him to get a similar result,” he said.
His mom said it can be a juggling act prioritizing all the kids’ commitments, but that their passion guides everyone.
“At the same time, we also want them to be the goofy kids they are,” Ayyar said.
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