[V]ermont’s spelling champion Raghav Dhandi made it through three rounds of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., before being eliminated on Wednesday.
Raghav, 12, of Montpelier, competing with the best spellers in the country, correctly spelled perionychia (definition: “the tissue bordering the root and sides of the fingernail or toenail”). He correctly spelled the noun detainer (“the withholding from the rightful owner of something that has lawfully come into the possession of the holder”).
In fact, he was not eliminated because of a misspelling. The national bee, now in its 93rd year, has become so popular that the bee organizers have had to do some reorganization. The first round of the contest is now a written multiple-choice test. Those who make it through the next two rounds are then eliminated or allowed to proceed to the finals based on total points accumulated, including their performance on the written test.
This year a record 519 students, from as far away as American Samoa, and ranging in age from 8 to 14, qualified to compete in the nationals. The rules allow no more than 50 to go on to the finals. Contestants started the three-day bee on Tuesday this year — an extra day was added this year to accommodate the number of contestants. As of Thursday morning there were 41 finalists. About a dozen or so finalists will compete in the final round, prime time Thursday evening.
Raghav, a seventh-grader at Main Street Middle School in Montpelier, first won his school’s spelling bee, and then went on to compete with 28 others to win the Vermont state spelling bee, held in March at Saint Michael’s College in Winooski.
He won by correctly spelling “slavering.”
For Raghav, spelling has been a part of his life since he started reading at age 3.
“I love to read … I think as I am reading I am subconsciously absorbing words, learning to spell,” he said in an interview with VTDigger in March.
Raghav said he prepared for the spelling bees by reading 50 pages a night. He also practiced spelling with his mother.
Raghav’s father, Hari Dhandi, said on Wednesday that while Raghav was disappointed in this year’s outcome, he was already looking forward to next year.
“His goal is to be in the top 15 next year,” Hari Dhandi said.
Raghav was sponsored this year by VTDigger. State spelling bees are sponsored by news organizations, a tradition that began with the first spelling bee in 1925, sponsored by the Courier Journal in Louisville, Kentucky, to promote literacy.
VTDigger was the first online-only news organization to sponsor the state event. Milne Travel, the Vermont Student Assistance Corp., the Vermont Principals’ Association and the Vermont Humanities Council also supported the event.
The winner of the bee receives $40,000 and a trophy from the Scripps Bee, a $2,500 cash prize (and a complete reference library) from Merriam-Webster, trips to New York City and Hollywood as part of a media tour, and a pizza party for their school.
