World News
Colorado’s Aditi Muthukumar makes it to the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals
Colorado’s 13-year-old spelling champion Aditi Muthukumar earned a spot in the competition on Thursday Scripps National Spelling Bee finale by correctly spelling words this reporter had never heard of.
On Wednesday, during the quarter-final and semi-final of the bee, the Westminster teen spelled or defined five words correctly, following the three she achieved in the early rounds the day before.
Aditi spelled ‘Torquemada’, a word meaning ‘persecutor’, derived from the name of a monk who was part of the Spanish Inquisition. She could define “belligerence,” or ostentatiously aggressive action. And the teen spelled “taha,” a South African weaver bird with black and yellow plumage, and defined “welter,” which means to writhe and throw.
To secure her spot in the finale, Aditi finally nailed ‘myrmecoxene’, which refers to an insect that lives in the nest of another insect that is fed and guarded for its secretion, which is used as food.
Last year, Aditi tied for 74th in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. This year the young participant — who won the Denver Post-sponsored state spelling contest in March – is among the top eight spellers in the country after Wednesday’s rounds, which eliminated 140 other competitors.
The finalists will compete Thursday night for the spelling championship, with the winner receiving a trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.
The structure of the Scripps Bee has undergone many changes over time, but over the past three years under executive director Corrie Loeffler, the competition has become very tough, very quickly for spellers who make it past the preliminary rounds.
Starting in the quarterfinals, the bee’s word panel can use any of the more than half a million words in Webster’s Unabridged dictionary, plus some geographic names that don’t even appear in that section. Although the panel attempts to maintain a consistent level of difficulty, this may vary from word to word.
Traditionally, the last player standing in the finals wins, but Scripps Bee officials can also use what’s called a “spell” to determine the winner. That’s what happened in 2022, when 13-year-old Harini Logan defeated 12-year-old Vikram Raju of Aurora in the tiebreaker by correctly spelling more than 20 words.
Sponsored by the Boulder Valley School District, Aditi and 11-year-old Cooper Edwards were the two Coloradans among 245 participants in the annual gathering of the nation’s top spellers, held this week outside Washington, DC.
Cooper was defeated in Tuesday’s third round by the word “buttery,” which means “of or like butter.”
Aditi, an eighth grade student at Hulstrom K-8 in Northglenn, is a Jane Austen fan who spends her time writing stories, performing Indian classical dance and playing the flute when she isn’t in a buried the dictionary.
To see Aditi in the Scripps Bee finals, tune in to the television network ION from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM Mountain Time Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter.
