Community Corner
Cupertino Girl Almost Makes Spelling Bee Semi-Finals
Classmates at Samuel H.Lawson Middle School were following her progress this week.
Written by Bay City News
Three Northern California teens who were participating in the Scripps national Spelling Bee have been eliminated from the contest.
The annual competition, held near Washington, D.C., started Tuesday with 281 contestants from around the globe, all under the age 16.
That number had dwindled to 42 earlier Thursday, and more contestants were eliminated as the semi-finals continued in the afternoon. The final rounds were broadcast live on ESPN.
Cupertino resident Neha Konakalla, 13, was knocked out of the bee in Round 3 after correctly spelling "kohlrabi" and "eccrinology."
Cecilia Trujillo, 13, from Chualar, a community in Monterey County near Salinas, spelled "Holi" and "legato" correctly before she was eliminated in Round 3. Cecilia is an eighth-grader at Chualar Elementary School.
Both Neha and Cecilia fell short of the points they needed in the vocabulary portion of the bee to advance. The previous rounds included written tests, including on the meaning of words—a new feature at the bee.
Audrey Bantug, 13, of San Ramon, was the last of three Bay Area contestants to remain in the bee, after correctly spelling "oread," "umami," and "prosciutto" to advance to Round 6.
However, she was eliminated after misspelling the word "polytocous," an adjective meaning having more than one offspring at a birth.
Neha's classmates at Sam H. Lawson Middle School, where she is a seventh-grader, were following her progress this week, principal Jeff Bowman said.
More information about the spelling bee is available at www.spellingbee.com.
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