A crowd welcomed Bruhat Soma back to Tampa on Thursday after he won the Scripps National Spelling Bee last week.
Photos and video posted to the Hillsborough County Public School's Facebook page show the 12-year-old boy and his family arriving at Tampa International Airport to cheers from friends and classmates from Turner/Bartels K-8 School in Pebble Creek.
He was also welcomed by Tampa Bay Rays mascots Raymond and DJ Kitty, and Tampa Bay Rowdies mascot Pinnie.
Soma, a seventh-grader, said this has been a goal of his since fourth grade.
"I'm really, really happy," Soma said. "I've been working for this since fourth grade, but the last year I've been working really, really hard."
Bruhat competed in the bee the previous two years, tying for 163rd in 2022 and tying for 74th last year.
He's also the Tampa Bay area's second consecutive champion, after Largo’s Dev Shah won in 2023.
"I was really happy," Soma said. "It's been what I've been working for especially the whole last year, and I've had it as my end goal. So yeah, just really ecstatic.
"If you have a goal, you won't get tired. You'll just want to work hard."
He spelled 29 of 30 words correctly in 90 seconds.
Soma's winning word was “abseil," which according to the Cambridge Dictionary means to "go down a very steep slope by holding on to a rope that is fastened to the top of the slope."
Soma won more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. He said he will donate his winnings.
