A sixth grader at Philistine Rondo School of Discovery in Eastvale advanced to the third round of Scripps National Spelling Bee Tuesday in National Harbor, Maryland.
Victoria Li correctly spelled morion — a high-crested helmet with no visor — in the first round at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center.
In the second round, she was asked the vocabulary question, “What is cadence?” and correctly selected “vocal rhythm.”
Victoria then took a written test, the scores of which have not been released. The scores from the written test will determine who will advance to Wednesday’s quarterfinals. Under bee rules, spellers will be grouped by their number of correct answers. The number of spellers to advance will be determined by identifying the group whose minimum score results in as close to 100 quarterfinalists as possible.
Victoria qualified for the national bee by winning by the 47th annual Riverside County Spelling Bee in March, correctly spelling tersanctus, a hymn or invocation praising God as the thrice-holy deity, to end the nearly four-hour, 23-round competition.
The 11-year-old possesses a deep passion for reading, writing and archery and plays the piano and clarinet, according to biographical information supplied by bee organizers. In her free time, she likes to write poems and stories.
Victoria’s favorite animal is the koala and favorite school subject is history. She aspires to become a pediatric surgeon to assist children in need of medical care.
The bee began with a field of 243 spellers from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Department of Defense schools and five nations outside the United States — the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Kuwait and Nigeria.
There were 42 spellers eliminated in the first round and 18 in the second, reducing the field to 165.
The bee is limited to students in eighth grade or below and who were born on Sept. 1, 2009 or later.
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 including a 1768 Encyclopedia Britannica replica set and a three-year membership to Britannica Online Premium.
This is the 100th anniversary of the first national spelling bee which was on June 17, 1925, when the Louisville Courier-Journal invited other newspapers around the country to hold spelling bees and send their champions to Washington, D.C.
This is the 97th edition of the bee. There were no bees in 1943, 1944 and 1945 because of World War II and in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
No speller from Riverside County has won the bee.