South Brunswick 8th Grader In Scripps Nat'l Spelling Bee

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — The 92nd annual Scripps National Spelling Bee is nearly here and a young lady from Crossroads South Middle School will be competing!

Sharvani Vadlamani, 13, from Dayton, earned a coveted spot to compete in the nationally televised spelling bee, which will be broadcast live on ESPN next Thursday, May 30.

Sharvani will be competing against 560 children from all 50 states, all vying for a shot at becoming the nation’s preeminent speller. She is in the 8th grade at Crossroads South Middle School and her bio says that in addition to spelling, Sharvani enjoys playing tennis, math and coding, and she would like to pursue a career in medicine or physics.

This is also not her first spelling rodeo: Sharvani previously competed in the Scripps event in 2018, where she tied for 42nd place. This year, she is speller No. 267.

The spelling bee works like this: First, there are preliminary multiple-choice tests given on Monday, May 27. Whichever students pass those will advance to onstage spelling competitions held all day the following Tuesday and Wednesday.

The finalists then take the stage Thursday, May 30. No more than 50 spellers will advance to the finals Thursday. ESPN will begin broadcasting Wednesday on their app, and then live on EPSN 2 Thursday night.

So we have to see if Sharvani makes it through the finals next week. You can see all the contestants from New Jersey here: http://spellingbee.com/meet-the-spellers (search by state) There are 16 students total competing from New Jersey.

Interested viewers can begin watching the final rounds Wednesday on the Watch ESPN app. On Thursday, finalists will begin spelling on stage at 10 a.m. Eastern Time 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. It begins at 8:30 p.m.

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

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.