O’Mara And Palmesano Will Host 2016 National Spelling Bee Co-Champ At Capitol On Wednesday

Albany, N.Y., June 14—State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C,I-Big Flats) and Assemblyman Phil Palmesano (R,C,I-Corning) will host Jairam Hathwar of Painted Post, New York, co-champion of this year’s 89th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee, in Albany on Wednesday, June 15th.

O’Mara and Palmesano sponsor a Joint Legislative Resolution (J6253/K1488) honoring Hathwar’s achievement, which will be presented to all of the members of the State Legislature during Wednesday’s Senate and Assembly sessions.

Wednesday’s Assembly session is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. A live stream of the Assembly session can be viewed at: http://nyassembly.gov/av/live/

The start of Wednesday’s Senate session will be announced later today. A live stream of the Senate session can be viewed at: https://www.nysenate.gov/

Jairam will be accompanied to Albany by his parents, Jagadeesh and Roopa Hathwar, his older brother Sriram, who was the 2014 National Spelling Bee co-champion, and his grandmother, Bhageerathi, who traveled from India to attend this year’s Spelling Bee.

Jairam, 13, is a seventh-grader at The Alternative School for Math & Science in Corning. He was declared co-champion of the 89th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday, May 26, 2016 in National Harbor, Maryland. He shared this year’s top prize with 11-year-old Nihar Janga of Austin, Texas.

The 2016 Scripps Spelling Bee was broadcast nationwide on ESPN and featured 285 spellers from around the world ranging in age from 8 to 14 years old.