Would-Be Spelling Champ Gets 'Kokopu' Correct But is Out

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A Montgomery County student who loves Japanese culture from origami to manga and video games, has bowed out of the 2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion.

The preliminary rounds began Tuesday at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, and the competition wraps up Thursday night.

Raffae Aman Chowdhury, 11, a sixth-grader at Rocky Hill Middle School in Clarksburg, was among the competitors. His sponsor was the Meakem Group of Bethesda.

While he spelled spelled the words “aggregate” and “kokopu” correctly, he didn’t have enough points from the preliminary round to move on.

Chowdhury’s profile on the spelling bee site says:“Raffae dreams of visiting Japan, the birthplace of many of his hobbies. … Raffae has always had a lot of energy, and … he now channels that energy into training in tae kwon do, playing catcher on his baseball team, and participating in STEM Club at his school, where he got to build and launch a rocket.”

The championship round will be held Thursday evening. ESPN will broadcast the finals lives starting at 8 p.m. ET.

»Photo of Raffae Aman Chowdhury of Clarksburg courtesy of Mark Bowen/Scripps National Spelling Bee