WASHINGTON (Michigan News Source) – Nine students from the state of Michigan advanced to the Scripps National Spelling Bee near Washington, D.C. this year.

Spellers are competing at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center and have 90 seconds to correctly spell a word once it has been pronounced. Out of the nine Michigan contestants, five contestants advanced to round three in the preliminaries today. The third round will be a written test with any words from the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

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Contestant Sanvi Mandvekar, an eighth-grader sponsored by the Oakland Schools Education Foundation, advanced to round three. 

“It was really nerve wracking, that’s for sure, but when I got up to the mic, all of my fellow spellers, they were cheering for me, and I just felt really supported,” Sanvi told Michigan News Source.

When Sanvi got on the stage, she said that several thoughts were going through her head.

“I was really just thinking, ‘Okay, what word am I going to get? How am I going to spell it? And try not to trip on stage’” Sanvi said.

The competition week, called ‘Bee Week,’ includes activities for contestants to meet each other, according to Sanvi. On Memorial Day, contestants went to the Nationals Park baseball stadium for a picnic. They even got to go inside the batting cages.

“The spelling bee is not just about the spelling, it’s not just about the competition,” Sanvi said. “It’s about what you learn from the spelling bee. Aside from spelling, aside from words, aside from languages, which is also very, very important, you also learn hard work, dedication and really resilience, because a part of it is up to chance. It depends on what word you get and how you take what happens to you. That’s really what matters most.”

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Another contestant, Divya Choudhary, a sixth-grader sponsored by WXYZ Channel 7, said that her favorite part of the national competition is learning new words and making new friends.

“I started competing for the spelling bee, the National Spelling Bee, in the fifth grade, where I was just thinking, ‘You know what? I could do this,’” Divya said. “And, I did.”

Divya’s mom, Lalita Mishra, said this is her third year attending the Scripps National Spelling Bee competition as a parent.

“I’m grateful to Scripps for making learning fun for the kiddos. They come here, and it’s not only about the Spelling Bee at that point, it’s more of making friendship and growing as a human,” Lalita said.

Although Divya’s competition ended in round one today, she encouraged participants to stop and think before they spell a word out for the judges.

“Just know that even if you lose, you can still come out strong, and you can always come back,” Divya said. “There’s always another chance.”

All spellers receive prizes including year-long subscriptions to educational websites, such as Encyclopædia Britannica and News-O-Matic. Quarterfinalists, semifinalists, and finalists receive monetary prizes.

The champion wins:

  • $50,000 cash, a commemorative medal, and a trophy from the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
  • $2,500 cash and reference library from Merriam-Webster.
  • $400 of reference works, including a 1768 Encyclopædia Britannica Replica Set and a three-year membership to Britannica Online Premium from Encyclopædia Britannica.
  • $1,000 Scholastic Dollars to be donated to the school of the champion’s choice in their honor from Scholastic.

Contestant Zander Meyers, a fifth-grader sponsored by The County Press, said this is his first year at the National Spelling Bee.

“It’s a fun experience,” Meyers said.

His dad, Jason Meyers, said this competition has been very eye-opening.

“I didn’t realize that there were this many people that came to this event,” Jason said. “They’ve done a really good job here.”