Spelling champ Vanya Shivashankar of Olathe returns to welcome and hugs in KC

The last time Vanya Shivashankar was in the Kansas City area, she was a spelling bee contestant trying to make her title dreams come true. Wednesday night, she returned as a champion.

The 13-year-old from Olathe went on a coast to coast adventure last week following her win in the Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 28. After being celebrated as co-champions with fellow contestant Gokul Venkatachalam last Thursday, Vanya appeared on “Live With Kelly and Michael” on Monday and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Tuesday.

But as she was welcomed home Wednesday night after landing at Kansas City International Airport, Vanya said she was looking forward to a relaxing summer spent hanging out with her friends. Four of her classmates came to the airport to celebrate Vanya’s homecoming. As she set foot back in the Kansas City area, Vanya was greeted with a group hug from her friends and a yellow foam tiara.

Each of her friends also brought along a poster celebrating Vanya’s fame and spelling prowess. One poster featured Vanya’s head on a bee’s body while another had the word Vanya spelled correctly to win the title, scherenschnitte, on one side and what her friends said was Vanya’s favorite word, Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, on the other.

“It’s so sweet,” Vanya said. “Their support means so much to me. It’s so nice of them.”

Once she finished catching up with her friends, a reporter asked her to spell the word on the poster, the longest in the dictionary. With a smile, Vanya did so quickly and correctly.

Sue Sandbothe, a counselor at California Trail Middle School, helped organize Vanya’s classmates to celebrate her arrival Wednesday night. Sandbothe said she was also at the airport in 2009 when Vanya’s sister Kavya returned home after winning the spelling bee.

“I think it’s fun for them to come home and not just feel like, oh it’s a let down to finally be off the plane and home,” Sandbothe said.“There’s people here to say hey, we’re happy for you, we appreciate what you did and welcome home.”

Looking on with his family as his daughter happily chatted with her friends, Mirle Shivashankar said the past week had been an exciting but tiring time for the family.

“Winning the national championship is not an easy task,” Mirle Shivashankar said. “It’s always a good feeling.”

After a week where she was a trending topic on Twitter and interviewed on national television, Vanya said the reality of it all hasn’t quite sunk in yet.

“It’s weird to think that I actually won,” Vanya said.

This story was originally published June 4, 2015 at 9:27 AM with the headline "Spelling champ Vanya Shivashankar of Olathe returns to welcome and hugs in KC."