MARYLAND (WSLS 10) - Thursday is the final round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. This year 285 spellers are competing for the title. Thirteen students represent Virginia in the annual competition.
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We have three local students competing: 12 year old Luke Garcia from Danville who goes to Sacred Heart School, 13-year old Chloe Michelle Epps from Appomattox Middle School and 12-year old Asa Victor Stevens from Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Rocky Mount.
The children take a preliminary written test focusing on spelling on vocabulary before moving to the preliminary spelling phase.
Luke out in round 3 with word -Â ichthyology
Chloe out in round 3 with word - imputation
Asa out in round 2 with word - zaibatsu
45 children advance to the final rounds Thursday. It comes after a day of tongue-twisters that would stump most adults, and did stump most of the 284 original spellers. Organizers made the competition harder this year to avoid the kind of long, late showdown that occurred last year.
The winner's prizes include a $40,000 cash prize, $2,500 savings bond and a trip to New York City.