Schools

Georgia Student Advances in National Spelling Bee

How did Georgia's two competitors fare in the first two rounds of the National Spelling Bee? Look for live coverage this week on ESPN channels.

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Following Wednesday’s rounds at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, 257 words such as philhellenism, hoomalimali, and pfeffernuss have been correctly spelled and contestants will be moving on to round 3.

Georgia’s two super-spellers competed on Wednesday and their sponsors are Charles Sirui Li, The Augusta Chronicle, a fifth-grader at Stevens Creek Elementary School in Martinez; and Sumedh S. Garimella, Georgia Association of Educators, an eighth-grader at Richard Hull Middle School in Duluth.

In the morning round Li spelled "jacamar" correctly, while Garimella had no trouble with "perennial. During the Wednesday afternoon round, Garimella breezed through "spelunker" and moved on to Thursday's semifinals.

According to a previous Patch story, students are competing from eight countries: the Bahamas, Canada, China, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan, South Korea, and the United States -- represented by students from the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Department of Defense Schools in Europe.

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ESPN along with all of its sister channels is providing coverage of the Bee.

The schedule is:

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· Semifinals on Thursday, May 29, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT. ESPN2 will broadcast the announcement of championship finalists immediately following the conclusion of Round Six (watch live; play along).

Championship Finals broadcast live on ESPN on Thursday, May 29 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. EDT (watch live; play along).

Here’s what the super-spellers are competing for:

  • From Scripps, a $30,000 cash prize and the Scripps National Spelling Bee engraved trophy

  • From Merriam-Webster, a $2,500 U.S. savings bond and a complete reference library

  • From Encyclopædia Britannica, $1,200 of reference works including the Britannica Global Edition, 1768 Encyclopædia Britannica Replica Set Deluxe Edition, 3-year membership to Britannica Online Premium and Britannica World Atlas

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