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Tag: Scripps National Spelling Bee

  • From winning the spelling bee to U.Md. — and the full scholarship she earned too – WTOP News

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    Zaila Avant-garde became the first African American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 2021. Four years later, she’s starting her college journey while inspiring many with her message of self-confidence.

    Zaila Avant-garde won the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 2021, becoming the first African American to win the nation’s premier spelling bee contest. At the time, she was living in Louisiana, but that didn’t stop University of Maryland President Darryll Pines from offering her a full scholarship to College Park.

    Four years later, Avant-garde is attending the University of Maryland. Her family now lives in Prince George’s County.

    But she never phoned in a favor to help make it happen. In fact, when she applied, she wasn’t entirely sure the offer still stood.

    “That was definitely in the back of my mind a few years later as I began my college search,” she said. “I actually ended up getting a different scholarship. But I’m here for free, and that’s all that matters!”

    In 2021, Zaila Avant-garde made history as the first Black American champion to win the Scripps spelling bee. Now, the 18-year-old is going to the University of Maryland on a full ride scholarship. (WTOP/John Domen)

    Avant-garde is attending Maryland on a Banneker-Key Scholarship, studying cell biology and molecular genetics. She’s also working on her sixth book — one of the other five, titled “It’s Not Bragging If It’s True,” was a New York Times bestseller.

    “Think of it as like a big sister giving advice,” she said, adding that she herself is a big sister. “Giving you advice on confidence, really promoting self-confidence, and kind of learning how to work on time management. Truly, the main focus of it is self-confidence, like learning how to believe in yourself and believe in the work that you’ve done and believe that you are worthy of being in the spaces that you’re in.”

    Those are the kind of thoughts she said helped her win the Spelling Bee in 2021. Her winning word sounds like “Maria” but was actually “murraya.” It’s a Latin-Swedish word for a subtropical evergreen plant found in Asia.

    “One of my pet peeves about my winning word, murraya, is that it doesn’t sound like a very hard word. And the fact that I made a joke connecting it to Bill Murray … I think it really made people think that it’s a really easy word,” she admitted.

    “I cannot stress this enough, no, it’s not,” she insisted with a smile. “Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, I would have been able to spell that.’ You always spell that because I said, ‘Oh, like Bill Murray.’”

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    John Domen

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  • All Minnesota contestants in Scripps National Spelling Bee have been eliminated

    All Minnesota contestants in Scripps National Spelling Bee have been eliminated

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    4 Minnesota kids advance in 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee


    4 Minnesota kids advance in 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee

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    MINNEAPOLIS — All four Minnesota competing in the quarterfinals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee have been eliminated.

    Yupeng Chen, 14, from Duluth, William Rausch, 13, from Royalton, Jaden Go, 13, from Grand Forks and Kai Riedner, 11, from Excelsior represented Minnesota in the quarterfinals Wednesday. 

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    Chen, Go, and Riedner unfortunately did not make it past the quarterfinals, but Rausch continued forward to the next round after nailing the word “aphanisia.” Aphanisia is defined as the early normal development of a vestigial organ followed by regression. 

    Sadly, Rausch did not make it past the sixth round and was eliminated on the word “vargueno.” Vargueno is defined as a decorative writing cabinet with origins tracing back to Spain, composed of a rectangular chest supported on legs or a decorative framework and having the front opening downward on hinges to serve as a writing desk

    Rausch finished in 23rd place, where he tied with other contestants. T

    his is a tremendous improvement from the previous year, where Rausch finished 173rd. 

    NOTE: The video attached to this article originally aired on May 29, 2024. 

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    Mackenzie Lofgren

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  • Sacramento teenager eliminated from Scripps National Spelling Bee

    Sacramento teenager eliminated from Scripps National Spelling Bee

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    (FOX40.COM) — A Sacramento eighth grader’s time at the Scripps National Spelling Bee has come to an end.

    Nithika Rangan, 14, was eliminated from the competition after advancing to the quarterfinals. 
    •Video Above: Interview with Nithika Rangan (from March 2024)

    The Brookfield School student was knocked out of the event on Wednesday after misspelling “tennantite” in the sixth round. 

    She began Wednesday by correctly answering wrangle “was to engage in an argument” in the fifth round. 

    Rangan made it to the quarterfinals after correctly spelling “cognatus” in the fourth round. She was one of 59 spellers who moved on to the quarterfinals. 

    It was Rangan’s second time competing in the National Spelling Bee with her previous experience coming in 2019 as a third grader.

    Rangan is also a singer, performing the national anthem at over 50 sporting events and the Sacramento Run to Feed the Hungry, according to her bio on the spelling bee’s website. 

    In a March interview with FOX40.com, Rangan said her journey began in first grade after her teacher told her mom about her spelling talents.

    “I won the classroom spelling bee and my teacher told my mom, ‘Hey your daughter is really good at spelling,’ and that’s when my spelling bee journey started,” Rangan said. “My mom started enrolling me in a lot more spelling bees and I decided that I really like this and I decided to keep continuing.” 

    The National Spelling Bee began Tuesday and will conclude with the finals on Thursday night. Since 2011, the spelling bee has occurred at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. 

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    Jeremiah Martinez

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  • Longmont 5th grader to compete in 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee

    Longmont 5th grader to compete in 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee

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    LONGMONT, Colo. — A Longmont 5th grader is preparing to take the stage in the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

    Cooper Edwards, 11, will represent Niwot Elementary School at the national spelling bee competition, which takes place May 28 through May 30 in National Harbor, Maryland.

    The pre-teen has been balancing spelling bee preparations with his many other talents.

    “I mean, my days are packed,” said Cooper.

    He enjoys reading, spelling, watching the Denver Nuggets and swimming. Cooper qualified for the Colorado state swim championships in multiple events.

    The 11-year-old is also a musician. Cooper is the lead guitarist and singer for his band, The Night Owls. He said his experience on stage makes him feel more prepared for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

    “At the beginning, it’s like really nerve-racking because there’s all those people just staring at you,” said Cooper. “Then it just feels fun at the end.”

    Longmont 5th grader to compete in 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee

    To qualify for the national competition, Cooper competed in his school’s spelling bee and a regional spelling bee. He uses the Word Club app to help him study and practices spelling challenging words with his older sister, Paige.

    “He’ll come to me and he’ll be like, ‘Can you go through these words with me?’” said Paige. “Then I tell him if he got them right or wrong.”

    Cooper’s family doesn’t put too much pressure on him to succeed.

    “I know that he can go far if he’s confident and if he just has fun with it,” said Paige.

    In addition to competing, Cooper also looks forward to participating in Bee Week, a week-long experience for spellers and their families that includes special events, educational workshops, excursions into Washington, D.C., and more.

    Cooper has words of encouragement to kids who want to participate in spelling bees.

    “Just like practice in front of people,” he said. “And don’t put a lot of pressure on yourself, and you’ll go further.”

    More than 250 spellers will participate in this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee, including Aditi Muthukumar of Hulstrom K-8 in Northglenn.

    You can watch the Scripps National Spelling Bee on ion beginning May 28. Click here for details.

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    Jessica Crawford

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  • National Spelling Bee Winner Disqualified After Being Given All 26 Letters Needed For Words In Advance

    National Spelling Bee Winner Disqualified After Being Given All 26 Letters Needed For Words In Advance

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    NATIONAL HARBOR, MD—In a sternly worded condemnation that took the 14-year-old to task for violating the rules to obtain an unfair advantage, the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee winner Dev Shah was disqualified Friday when it was confirmed he had received in advance all 26 letters needed to spell the words. “Unfortunately, after discovering that every single letter used in the competition was leaked to the winner ahead of time, we were forced to strip this year’s winner of his title,” said Corrie Loeffler, executive director of the bee, who in private reportedly expressed concern that the cheating scandal that erupted on her watch would both undermine the integrity of the organization and destroy her career. “We take great pains to keep the letters we will use under lock and key, as it is simply not fair for a contestant to walk onto our stage already knowing that letters such as E, T, and N are likely to be used over the course of the spelling bee. Rest assured, we will be conducting a thorough investigation to determine how this elaborate fraud was perpetrated, especially now that we know Mr. Shah appears to have gone so far as to have learned a little song he used as a mnemonic device to help him remember the 26 letters.” Reached for comment, Shah told reporters he had agreed to return his $50,000 cash prize and said he wished to apologize for his behavior, which he called “probouleutic, chthonic, and completely aegragus.”

    This Week’s Most Viral News: June 2, 2023

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  • Florida teen Dev Shah wins 95th Scripps National Spelling Bee

    Florida teen Dev Shah wins 95th Scripps National Spelling Bee

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    The Scripps National Spelling Bee has a new champion: 14-year-old Dev Shah of Largo, Florida.

    The teen beat out his final opponent, eighth-grader Charlotte Walsh of Arlington, Virginia, by correctly spelling the word, “psammophile,” which is defined by Merriam-Webster as “an organism that prefers or thrives in sandy soils or areas.”

    “It’s surreal,” Shah said after being announced the champion. “I don’t know if it’s settled in. My legs are still shaking!”

    Prior to Shah’s final turn at the mic, Walsh misspelled the word “daviely,” making space for Shah to swoop in and take the victory.

    Shah had to spell a total of 15 words in Thursday’s competition, becoming the 95th champion of the Scripps Spelling Bee, and picking up a $50,000 grand prize.

    He was one of 11 finalists Thursday. Two competitors were eliminated in the first round after misspelling their words, while a third was eliminated in the second round, in which spellers are prompted with a multiple choice question about the definition of the word. 

    Six more students was eliminated in the third, fourth and fifth rounds, including Utah’s Surya Kapu — the only repeating finalist in this year’s bee.

    It was then down to Shah versus Walsh. Shah nailed his word, “bathypitotmeter,” while Walsh misspelled her final word of the night, “daviely.”

    This year’s competition did not lead to a “spell-off” — a process that debuted last year in response to a historic eight-way tie for the title in 2019. The spell-off, which would have taken place this year if no champion was named by the one-hour and 55-minute mark of the bee, gives each contestant 90-seconds to spell a series of words.

    Simrin Singh

    Simrin Singh is a social media producer and trending content writer for CBS News.

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