Both representatives from Georgia advanced to the vocabulary round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC on May 27.
Sarv Dharavane from Peachtree Middle School in Dunwoody, the state’s winner, correctly spelled “vivificate,” to animate or revive, and seventh grader Sreeya Lakkimsetti, from Stallings Middle School in Columbia County, correctly spelled “jurimetrician,” the application of quantitative methods, probability, and statistics to the study of law.
The contest is now moving on to a speed word-definition round, where spellers must define a word in less than 30 seconds after being given three options.
In the first two rounds, Dharavane correctly spelled “heiau,” which is a Hawaiian sacred place, then defined “veracity” as “the quality of conforming to facts, truthfulness, or habitual honesty.”
In the preliminary rounds, Lakkimsetti, 13, correctly spelled “nahcolite,” a naturally occurring mineral form of sodium bicarbonate, and defined “gawker” as a person staring stupidly.
Dharavane, after more than 350 words and 23 rounds (including vocabulary), on March 20 won the 65th Annual Georgia Association of Educators (GAE) State Spelling Bee for the third consecutive year, with Lakkimsetti as the runner-up.
Related story:
• Two Georgia spellers advance to national bee
He finished third overall in last year’s national contest.
About 247 spellers have descended from all over the world to compete in the 101st bee. In the spelling round on May 26, which was not televised, 97 contestants advanced, with 72 eliminated. After the fourth round, the pool was reduced to 54 spellers.
The competition continues on May 27, with the semifinals, televised on ION Television, starting at 8 p.m.
