One Michigan speller remains at National Spelling Bee

Yahoo

28-05-2025

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — One Michigan speller remains in the competition as three spellers from West Michigan made it to round three of the National Spelling Bee, ultimately tying for 100th place.
The annual Scripps National Spelling Bee is taking place this week in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C.
At National Spelling Bee, West Michigan students get to round three
Elliott Covelle of Grand Rapids, Ishika Dirisala of St. Joseph and Josiah Loehrke of Kalamazoo made it to round three, after getting past a spelling round and vocabulary round Tuesday. They were all knocked out in round three, a written test that needed a score of at least 13 to advance. The three West Michigan spellers were among 84 eliminated by the test.
Elliott and Josiah on Tuesday told News 8 parent company Nexstar they were proud to represent their communities.
'I'm really proud to be representing Grand Rapids and Kent County,' Elliott said. 'It's really nice to have support from all my friends and teachers and family. It's a good experience.'
'It's a huge honor to be able to represent Kalamazoo … (at) the spelling bee. And I'm trying not to let them down, and I think I'm doing pretty well,' Josiah said. 'I'm glad I'm able to do this.'
One student from Michigan remains. Sanvi Mandvekar is an eighth grader at Larson Middle School in Troy on the east side of the state. She passed round one by correctly spelling 'Jumada,' and passed round two by defining 'humdrum.'
After the written test, she passed round four by spelling 'innatism,' round five by defining 'titan' and round six by defining 'gruine.'
The Scripps National Spelling Bee finals are scheduled for Thursday starting at 8 p.m.
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