Buffalo Grove Student Eliminated During Semifinals of National Spelling Bee

A Buffalo Grove student made it through six rounds of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., before he was eliminated after spelling ‘tristeza’ incorrectly in the semifinals.

Aniket Nuthalapati, 14, was among 49 other students competing in the semifinals Thursday morning in Washginton, D.C., when he made it through the fifth round of the competition by correctly spelling ”osteitic.”

He didn’t fare as well in the sixth round. Here is the Twitter post by the Scripps National Spelling Bee posted at 11:18 a.m. Thursday:

#speller62 Aniket Nuthalapati spelled the word ‘tristeza’ incorrectly #spellingbee

— NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) May 28, 2015

Aniket Nuthalapati is an eighth grade student at Aptakisic Junior High School in Buffalo Grove, according to the Scripps Spelling Bee website.

Nuthalapati was the only Illinois’ student who made it to the semifinals of the national bee, according to the Chicago Tribune.

During the preliminary round in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, Nathalapati spelled ”camoflage” correctly, and then went on to spell “auriphrygiate” correctly during the second preliminary round, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Here is the profile of Nuthalapati, which is posted on the Scripps website:

Aniket enjoys volunteering with community service ventures, particularly Feed My Starving Children, an organization committed to feeding hungry children worldwide. He considers Mahatma Gandhi to be his role model because of how much Gandhi accomplished in a peaceful way. A strong student in math and science, Aniket competed in his state science fair and has also won a regional history competition, and he hopes to study pediatrics in college. Aniket is also interested in a wide variety of sports, including football and swimming, and he plays the cello.

The championship finals will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday.