5 HoCo Spellers Are Contestants In Scripps National Bee

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD — The 92nd annual Scripps National Spelling Bee is here, and five Howard County students are competing this year. More than 560 children from all 50 states will vie for a shot at becoming the nation’s preeminent speller.

Preliminary multiple-choice tests were held Monday, May 27. Onstage spelling competitions will be held all day Tuesday and Wednesday, with finalists competing Thursday, May 30. No more than 50 spellers will advance to the finals Thursday.

The event is held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. The champion will receive a $50,000 prize.

Here are the contestants from Ellicott City:

• Teresa Cherian
  • Age: 12
  • Grade: 6th
  • Speller number: 204
  • Town: Ellicott City
  • School: Bonnie Branch Middle School
  • Drawing, reading, cooking and playing the violin are her hobbies.
• Michael Kittredge
  
  • Age: 13
  • Grade: 7th
  • Speller number: 181
  • Town: Laurel
  • School: Murray Hill Middle School
  • His mother is Italian. After learning that language at an early age, he's now adding French to his repertoire.
• Luke Suko
  
  • Age: 13
  • Grade: 8th
  • Speller number: 122
  • Town: Dayton
  • School: St. Louis School
  • He tied for 42nd place in last year's bee. He also collects hats when he travels, and his collection includes a gondolier's hat from Venice and a snow hat from Iceland.
• Saketh Sundar
  • Age: 13
  • Grade: 8th
  • Speller number: 132
  • Town: Clarksville
  • School: Clarksville Middle School
  • He has competed in the past three years in the bee, finishing 19th last year, 12th in 2017 and 46th in 2016. In his spare time, he likes to listen to TED talks.
• Veer Tuliani
  • Age: 12
  • Grade: 7th
  • Speller number: 143
  • Town: Ellicott City
  • School: Folly Quarter Middle School
  • He competed last year and tied for 453rd place. His goals for the future including being a meteorologist, sports commentator/player, spelling bee pronouncer, inventor, pilot, doctor, scientist, teacher, mathematician, astronaut and dad.

Interested viewers can watch every word Wednesday on the Watch ESPN app.

Finalists will begin spelling on stage at 10 a.m. Thursday, and this part of the competition will air live on ESPN 2.

After the field is narrowed down to roughly a dozen finalists, ESPN will air the spelling bee finals live Thursday night.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.