WASHINGTON D.C. — Among the 281 spellers practicing for Tuesday’s preliminaries in the Scripps National Spelling Bee is Vanya Shivashankar, a sixth-grader at California Trail Middle School in Olathe.
Vanya has been at the nationals before. Click here to learn more about Vanya and her spelling history.
This year is a little different– and perhaps more difficult- for Vanya and other spellers because in addition to correctly spelling the given words, the contestants have to know what the word means, too.
This is the first time in its 86 years that the competition has introduced a vocabulary component.
It will count for 50% of a speller’s overall score and will help determine which competitors take part in the semifinal and championship rounds.
The statistics on the country’s best student spellers are interesting. More than 63 per cent of them come from public schools.
- 178 from public schools
- 54 from private schools
- 25 are homeschooled
- 15 go to parochial schools
- 9 students attend charter schools.
Click here for more information on the contestants who made it to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Spelling tests, both computer-based and onstage, will make up the other half of their scores.
“It doesn’t make sense,” said Sanat Mishra, who last year made it to the finals of the South Asian Spelling Bee, but is not competing at the National Spelling Bee. “I don’t get the rule.”
Spelling Bee Director Paige Kimble said the rule change is a natural extension of the contest.
“The reason for the change is all about extending the bee’s commitment to its purpose, which long has been not only to help students improve their spelling, but also to increase the vocabulary, learn concepts and develop correct English usage,” she said.
Favorite subject? Math
This year’s whiz kids aren’t just good at putting vowels and consonants in the right order; 116 of them speak more than one language, and math is most frequently cited as their favorite subject, not spelling.
They range in age from 8 to 14, but nearly 90% of them are between 12 and 14 years old. The kids come from all 50 U.S. states and several American territories, plus the Bahamas, Canada, China, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan and South Korea.
Winning the bee has its perks. It’s not just about the $30,000 cash prize from Scripps and engraved trophy — past winners have returned home to a hero’s welcome and met with the president.
This year’s spelling competition begins Tuesday at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. The preliminaries happen throughout the day on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Round Two begins at 7:00 a.m. CT. Round Three will begin at 2:15 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.
Thursday is the semi-finals, from 1:00-4:00 pm. and then the Championship Finals are Thursday from 7:00-9:00 p.m.
ESPN will broadcast the preliminary rounds starting Wednesday, with the finals slated for Thursday night.
Timing ‘absolutely fair’
Both ESPN and Scripps have said the rule change wasn’t driven by a desire to raise ratings. But it has generated controversy, because the announcement was made just seven weeks before the competition.
“The timing of our announcement … is absolutely fair,” Kimble said. “April is the first opportunity to engage all of the participants who have qualified for the national finals.”
But Sanat said that has meant a lot of extra preparation hours for competitors.
“There’s going to be a lot of last-minute studying,” he said.
And for some, the change could spell big trouble.
By Ed Payne and Casey Wian
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