Schools
UPDATE: National Spelling Bee Run Ends for North Middle School Student
Heloise Cheruvalath made it to Washington D.C. for the Scripps National Spelling Bee, but was not among the 50 spellers to make the cut for the semi-finals.
Remember North Middle School's ace speller, Heloise Cheruvalath?
She's the eighth-grader that advanced to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in March in the final round of the Badger State Spelling at Edgewood College in Madison.
Cheruvalath was thick in the competition between 277 students from around the country Wednesday in Washinton D.C. After the first round test, she spelled her first word of the oral competition,"dihedral", correctly.
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At 4:30 p.m., Cheruvalath spelled her next word "vivace" correctly. She was one of the final spellers in the round. However, Cheruvalath didn't score high enough in the first round and missed the cut for the semi-finals.
The first round had students take a computerized spelling test with 50 words, of which only 25 would be scored. Then, in the two live rounds, each speller had two chances to test their skills in front of a crowd of 500 audience members. A correctly spelled word in this round earned the contestants three points.
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Each contestant could earn up to 31 points. Once the preliminary rounds were over, spelling bee officials tallied and announced the results to the nervous children.
The semifinalists competition begins tomorrow at 10 a.m. at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center.
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