The finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee were already off to an agonizing start Thursday, with 20 out of 40 spellers hearing the dreaded bell before Tejas stepped to the microphone. At left is Syaal Sharifzad, 12, of Monterey, Calif., and Ella Peters, 13, of San Diego, Calif., is at right.
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Divya – officially speller No. 122 in the Bee – is sponsored by the Oakland Press and, according to her biography in the Bee guide, is “a big fan of Star Wars, Harry Potter and the Lord of the Ring series”.
The only thing between Divya Aggarwal and Thursday night’s final rounds of the Scripps National Spelling Bee was the word “succussatory”.
Sadhy and Sridhar were among a field of 45 finalists who advanced Thursday in the 89th Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.
Delamerced also can decipher a person’s heritage just by looking at his or her last name, thanks to the Bee.
Sachdev and Pittman incorrectly spelled words in the preliminary rounds.
“I’m going to try to go as far as I can”.
“It’s one of the most unique, odd clubs you can be in”, 1984 victor Dan Greenblatt told the Guardian past year, added about the event: “They have a lot of these made-for-TV moments”.
During the preliminary rounds in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday morning, Cameron, 10, correctly spelled both of his words.
Two others who made last year’s top 10 managed to repeat this year, but it wasn’t easy.
Sridhar, 13, is an eighth-grader at Garnet Valley Middle School. They got biological terms and words derived from obscure languages.
Eva will begin seventh gradethis fall, and says she shoot again for the National Spelling Bee championship. “They gave us some stats, that you’re more likely to be hit by lightning than to make it to nationals”. The victor will claim more than $42,000 in cash and prizes.
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The victor emerging from spelling rounds through the day and a championship final televised by ESPN at 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT on Friday) will take home a $40,000 cash purse, along with other prizes.
