Spell-tacular: National Spelling Bee 2008 Has Arrived
By Marcus Gilmer in Arts & Entertainment on May 29, 2008 6:15PM
Maybe we're nerds [Ed note: Maybe?], but we've always loved catching ESPN's coverage of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, not to mention we're huge fans of the outstanding documentary Spellbound. And we're not the only ones: for the third year in a row, the Championship Round is going prime-time on national television. The preliminary rounds have wrapped up and the quarterfinals are this afternoon from 1 - 4:30 p.m.(broadcast on ESPN360.com), while the semis will air on ESPN from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. tomorrow. The Championship Round will air on ABC starting at 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night. This year's Bee began with 288 spellers, sixteen from Illinois. Chicago-area spellers include:
- Adrian Saputra Gunawan of Chicago, a 12-year-old sixth grader at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School.
- Anne-Marie Hagnell Kommers of Lake Bluff, a 12-year-old sixth grader at School of St. Mary.
- Priyanka Damarla of Huntley, a 13-year-old eighth grader at Marlowe Middle School.
- Connor Ray Flexman of Sleepy Hollow, a 14-year-old eighth grader at Elgin Academy.
- Ajay Chatrath of Bourbonnais, a 14-year-old eighth grader at Grace Baptist Academy.
- Rose Sloan of River Forest, a 13-year-old eighth grader at Roosevelt Middle School.
- Emily R. Temple-Wood of Downers Grove, a 14-year-old eighth grader at the Avery Coonley School.
We'll do our best to keep you updated on their performances. Unfortunately, Adrian, Anne-Marie, and Rose misspelled words in Round 2, hurting their chances to advance to the elimination round, but there's still hope if they nailed the first round quizzes. Not that we condone such a thing, but if we did place bets on which of our Chicago-area students would make it the farthest, we'd put $50 on Ajay and split $25 each on Emily and Connor.
The Scripps Spelling Bee has had its share of memorable moments and smack-talkin' kids, but our favorite, by far, is the euphoric Rebecca Sealfon, the 1997 champ.