A seventh-grader from Corona advanced Thursday to the ninth round of the 91st Scripps National Spelling Bee by correctly spelling five words.
Aisha Randhawa began Thursday’s competition at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland by correctly spelling cabaletta, the lively conclusion of an aria or duet.
Aisha then correctly spelled bushveld, veld of southern Africa with abundant shrubby and often thorny vegetation; amphipneustic, an adjective describing amphibians that have both gills and lungs throughout life; velamen, the thick corky epidermis of aerial roots of an epiphytic orchid that absorbs water from the atmosphere; and Marseilles, a firm cotton fabric that is similar to pique.
Aisha and the 15 other spellers remaining in the competition will next take a tiebreaker multiple-choice test of 12 spelling words and 12 vocabulary questions before the on-stage portion of the bee resumes at 5:30 p.m. PDT. The test was instituted last year in an effort to avoid the bee ending in a tie as it had the previous two years.
There is a limit of 25 consecutive rounds involving three or fewer spellers. At the end of a round when it is mathematically impossible for a single champion to emerge through oral spelling in subsequent rounds, the officials will disclose tiebreaker test scores of the spellers remaining in the competition.
The speller remaining in the competition with the highest tiebreaker test score will be declared champion.
Aisha, who attends Auburndale Intermediate School, was among 41 spellers who advanced to the finals from the record field of 516 by scoring high enough on multiple-choice test with 13 spelling words and 13 vocabulary questions, and correctly spelling her second- and third-round words on stage.
The finals are limited to a maximum of 50 spellers. Spellers’ scores are plotted on a chart beginning at 36. Spellers at each consecutive scoring level are added until no more than 50 spellers have been attained.
Aisha correctly spelled autocratic in Tuesday’s second round and amateur in Wednesday’s third round. The test is considered the bee’s first round.
Aisha, whose favorite book is “White Fang” by Jack London, tied for 22nd place in the 2016 bee and tied for 35th in the 2017 bee. She lists her favorite actor is Gal Gadot; favorite historical figure as Abraham Lincoln; and favorite sport as golf.
The concluding segment of the finals will begin at 5:30 p.m. and be shown on ESPN.
A “play along” version will air on ESPNU. It gives viewers a one-in-four chance to pick the correct spelling of the given word and informational boxes highlighting the word’s etymology, definition, intelligible pronunciation and part of speech.
This is the 25th year ESPN has carried the bee.
“The relationship with ESPN definitely increased the coolness factor for the bee,” Valerie Miller, the bee’s communications manager, told City News Service. “Spellers love to be on ESPN probably more than anything else.”
The bee is limited to students in eighth grade or below, with this year’s contestants ranging in age from 8 to 15.
The winner will receive $40,000 from Scripps, which owns television stations and newspapers; $2,500 and a complete reference library from the dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster; and $400 in reference works from Encyclopaedia Britannica, including a 1768 Encyclopaedia Britannica replica set and a three-year membership to Britannica Online Premium, plus trips to Hollywood to appear on the ABC late-night program “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and New York City to appear on the syndicated morning talk show “Live with Kelly and Ryan.”
The winner’s school will receive a pizza party from Pizza Hut.
Five Californians have won the bee, but none from Riverside County.
The initial field was 225 larger than last year’s because of creation of the RSVBee program. The invitational program was created “to level the playing field for national finals qualification,” Miller said.
“It is the first opportunity for students who live in unsponsored areas to advance to the national finals,” Miller said. “It also creates a new path for champion spellers in competitive regions, where one speller is declared the winner from thousands of schools, to also earn a chance on the national stage.”