Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
NWA speller goes three rounds before bee ouster
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Pavani S. Chittemsetty of Bentonville successfully completed the first three rounds of the 89th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee before being eliminated late Wednesday afternoon.
Barely 10 years old and one of the youngest in the nation to qualify for the contest, the Arkansas native outlasted dozens of middle-school students, finishing one step short of the finals.
Pavani, a fourth grader at Elm Tree Elementary School, will be eligible to compete until she finishes eighth grade. She said she’ll keep studying.
“I don’t lose much because I got the experience I needed. … I still have four more years to compete again,” she said.
The overall experience has been positive, she said. “It’s been fun because I got to meet a lot of spellers from different states and I got to make new friends.”
Pavani earned the right to compete by winning Arkansas’ spelling bee, which is sponsored by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
The national spell-off, a capital springtime tradition, was held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, a massive complex on the banks of the Potomac River, 10 miles south of downtown Washington.
The 284 spellers were arranged alphabetically, based on the state, territory or nation they represent. As an Arkansas representative, Pavani
sat on the front row and was initially seventh in line.
Shortly after 8 a.m., she correctly spelled “threnody,” defined by Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary as “a song or poem that expresses sorrow for someone who is dead.”
A few minutes after 1 p.m., she successfully spelled “geotropic,” defined as “a tropism (as of plant roots) in which gravity is the orienting factor.”
Television cameras captured every letter, broadcasting them on ESPN3.
Her father, Murali Chittemsetty, her mother Dhana Varikunta, and her two siblings were in the audience rooting for her.
Whenever someone got the answer right, Head Judge Mary Brooks would reply, “That is correct,” and the crowd would applaud.
Those who gave wrong answers heard a bell, followed by polite applause. They quickly exited the stage, handed in their name placards and headed for their parents. Tissues were on hand and were occasionally utilized.
As they waited for the finalists to be announced, Pavani’s father said he wasn’t worried about her. “She’s prepared for winning or losing,” the Wal-Mart project manager said. “Some people get emotional and get on the stage and cry. She’s not like that.”
Thirty-four entrants were eliminated in the morning after misspelling their words. Another 80 got words wrong in the afternoon round.
A spelling test, taken earlier in the week, was used to eliminate another 125 contestants, winnowing the field to 45 finalists. [The test is posted at cdn.spellingbee.com/ bee/prelim-test.pdf]
Thirty-four entrants were eliminated in the morning after misspelling their words. Another 80 got words wrong
in the afternoon round.
The fourth round begins this morning on ESPN2. Those who avoid elimination earlier in the day will face off at 7 p.m. on ESPN, completing as many rounds as it takes to determine the winner.
The nation’s top speller will receive a trophy and a $40,000 scholarship, $10,000 more than last year’s winner.
The words awaiting the spellers Wednesday morning were challenging, vocabulary that rarely appears in everyday speech. But they were culled from a list of 400 words that each contestant had been given in April, enabling those with good memories to get a head start.
The afternoon words were more common: “fraternize,” “disbursement,” “unconscionable” and “inauguration” for example. But the competitors hadn’t been given a sneak peak at these words. Roughly one in three gave wrong answers in the afternoon session.
There won’t be any crib sheet for today’s finals. The words will all come from Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, which contains 472,000 words.
Pavani and her siblings were born in the United States. Her parents are immigrants from India.
The young speller also has a black belt in taekwondo, loves to play tennis and swim and she’s also bilingual, speaking English and Telugu — a language spoken by her grandparents and by 74 million others on the Indian subcontinent.
She spends hours reviewing spelling words and said she enjoys the challenge.
Pavani’s mother said her daughter will now set her sights on the 2017 spelling bee. “We will keep working more and more,” Varikunta said. “There is no disappointment. It’s not one day. … It’s a longtime process.”