28-05-2025
Dunlap Valley eight grader makes it past second round of Scripps spelling bee
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — A Dunlap Valley Middle School eighth grader will move on to the quarterfinals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee after defining compelling correctly.
Kavin Kumar Suriya Prakash, 14, successfully navigated the first two rounds Tuesday by spelling 'logothete,' correctly. Logothete was an administrator under the Byzantine emperors, according to the competition's website.
Then, to move onto the quarters, he had to properly define the word compelling which is 'demands and holds one's attention,' they said.
With 60 participants being eliminated through the first two rounds, with 42 exiting in round one and 18 in round two, the Edwards teen is now one of 183 people moving on in the competition, according to the website.
Prakash also enjoys building and coding robots, as he won the Illinois State Champion's Award in the FIRST Lego League World Festival in 2023, according to his profile on the Spelling Bee's website.
He also enjoys chess, winning a silver medal in the state competition, and he also competes in Mathcounts, which we advance to the state championships for, and Scholastic Bowl.
Prakash also runs cross country and earned a black belt in Taekwondo when he was eight.
The competition's quarterfinals will begin on Wednesday, May 28, from 8 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., with the semifinals to come later in the day from 8 to 10 p.m.
The competition is being held in National Harbor, Md., which is a suburb of Washington, D.C.
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