ON A NATIONAL STAGE — In a preliminary round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee Tuesday, Nick Haddox, a sixth grader at Indian Creek Middle School, correctly spelled Humboldt and gave the correct definition for Déjà vu. Haddox will learn today whether he will advance to the quarterfinals of the national competition, which is being held in National Harbor, Md. through Thursday.
Contributed
<!–
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — A Steubenville youth may advance to the quarterfinals portion of the Scripps National Spelling Bee today after correctly spelling a word and giving the correct definition for another in the preliminary round of the national competition Tuesday.
Kaden Haddox, a sixth grader at Indian Creek Middle School, will learn today whether he will be among about 100 advancing to the next round of the event, which continues through Thursday.
Haddox correctly spelled Humboldt, the name of a California county known for its majestic redwood trees and named for a 19th century German scientist known for his study of nature; and correctly defined Déjà vu as “a sensation that one has seen or heard something before.”
From there, he joined other bee participants in taking a test in which they were challenged to correctly spell 28 words and provide the correct definition for 12 other words.
Haddox’s father, Nick, said scores from the test will determine which of the event’s 243 competitors will advance to the quarterfinals being held today.
Officials with the national bee have stated the preliminary rounds serve to eliminate all but about 100 of the participating youth, who come from all 50 states, several U.S. territories and Department of Defense schools and four other countries.
The quarterfinals are set for 8 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. today, with the semifinals scheduled for 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. today and the finals set for 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday.
All portions of the competition will be streamed live on Bounce XL and spellingbee.com, while the final two portions will be broadcast live by the Ion cable television network.
Haddox advanced to the national bee after winning the Jefferson-Harrison Regional Spelling Bee presented by the Herald-Star on March 8.
He said when not studying the long list of words on which he may be quizzed for the contest, he and other participants have enjoyed seeing areas of Washington, D.C.
On Monday, the competitors were treated to a picnic at Nationals Park, home of the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team.
After consuming hot dogs, pulled pork sandwiches, macaroni and cheese and other food, the youth descended on the stadium’s infield, where they were able to take photos in the dugout and try their hand at the field’s batting cage.
Nick Haddox said there are plans for a trolley ride on Friday through Washington, where Kaden hopes to visit one of the Smithsonian museums.
(Scott can be contacted at [email protected].)
发表回复