Carmel Valley Middle Schooler Moves to Next Round in Scripps National Spelling Bee

SAN DIEGO - An eighth-grader from San Diego correctly spelled Polynesian Wednesday in the second round of the 90th Scripps National Spelling Bee in National Harbor, Maryland.

Yash Hande, who attends Pacific Trails Middle School in Carmel Valley, will return to the stage at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center later Wednesday for the third round. Spellers correctly spelling their third-round word can be among the maximum of 50 spellers advancing to Thursday's semifinals if their score on a test of 12 hand-written spelling words and 14 multiple-choice vocabulary questions administered Tuesday is high enough.

The test is considered the bee's first round. A misspelling in either the second or third round means the contestant is eliminated. The semifinalists are scheduled to be announced at approximately 3 p.m. (Pacific Daylight Time) following the conclusion of the third round. The second and third rounds will be shown by the broadband network ESPN3 from 5-9:15 a.m. and 10:15 a.m.-3 p.m.

Yash qualified for the national bee by winning the San Diego County Spelling Bee March 23. His final word was sphacelated, a verb meaning to become gangrenous.

Yash said he is interested in math and science, plays soccer and cricket, swims and participates in the martial art taekwondo.

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The bee is limited to students in eighth grade or below, with contestants ranging in age from 6 to 15 years old.

The field of 291 spellers consists of students who won locally sponsored bees in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, along with American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Department of Defense schools in Europe.

Six foreign nations are also represented -- the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan and South Korea.

The bee's purpose is to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives, organizers said.

The winner will receive $40,000 from Scripps, which owns television stations and newspapers; a $2,500 U.S. savings bond and complete reference library from the dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster; and $400 in reference works from Encyclopaedia Britannica and a three-year membership to Britannica Online Premium, plus trips to Hollywood to appear on the ABC late-night program "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and New York City to appear on the syndicated morning talk show "Live with Kelly and Ryan."

San Diego County has produced two of California's four national bee champions -- Anurag Kashyap in 2005 and Snigdha Nandipati in 2012.

By City News Service / Image via