An eighth-grader from Corona advanced to the quarterfinals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee Tuesday by correctly spelling two words and answering a vocabulary question.
Avijeet Randhawa, who attends Auburndale Intermediate School, correctly spelled raclette, a Swiss dish of melted cheese, typically eaten with potatoes. He also chose the correct answer to the vocabulary question, “What is a moratorium?” by selecting “a delay officially set by some authority.”
In the third round, Avijeet correctly spelled palynological, an adjective related to a branch of science dealing with pollen and spores.
The 13-year-old qualified for the national bee in National Harbor, Maryland by winning the Riverside County Spelling Bee in March, correctly spelling crescendo as the final word.
This is the eighth and final time a member of the Randhawa family is competing in the national bee. A member of the Randhawa family has won all eight county bees since 2016. The 2020 bee was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Avijeet was among nine spellers tying for 12th in last year’s bee. His sister Aisha competed in the national bee from 2016-19, with her best finish coming in 2018 when she tied for seventh. His sister Lara was among 10 spellers tying for 13th in 2022 and reached the quarterfinals in 2021.
Avijeet enjoys playing the video game Minecraft, pickleball, drums and guitar and building large Lego structures. In his free time, he often plays basketball and goes on brief walks. He likes to watch animals as they explore and live their lives.
The national bee began with a field of 245 spellers from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Canada, the Bahamas, Germany and Ghana. The field was the largest since 2019.
Wednesday’s quarterfinals at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center will be streamed on ION Plus, Bounce XL, Grit Xtra, Laff More and spellingbee.com from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time.
The bee is limited to students in eighth grade or below who were born Sept. 1, 2008 or later. Contestants for the 96th edition of the national bee range in age from 8 to 15.
The bee will conclude Thursday. The winner will receive $50,000 from the Scripps National Spelling Bee, $2,500 and a reference library from the dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster, $400 in reference works from Encyclopedia Britannica and a three-year membership to Britannica Online Premium and a $350 prize package from SugarBee Apple, including a SugarBee Apple gift basket and $250 gift card.
No contestant from Riverside County has won the bee.