The two brainiacs representing Colorado at the Scripps National Spelling Bee outside Washington, D.C., this week advanced through the first three rounds of the competition Tuesday.
Vedanth “Ved” Raju — a seventh grader from Aurora Quest K-8 who is sponsored in the bee by The Denver Post — correctly spelled “faipule,” a Samoan native councilor heading a political district and belonging to a fono, according to Merriam-Webster.
For the second round, a vocabulary test, the 12-year-old knew that a pathogen is a specific cause of disease.
Blanche Li — an eighth grader from Summit Middle School who is sponsored by the Boulder Valley School District — aced “Inuk,” a member of the Inuit people.
Blanche’s vocabulary round tossed “scrounge” her way, and the 14-year-old accurately identified it as meaning “to find or round up.”
Blanche and Ved passed Tuesday’s written test and qualified for Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
The two Colorado middle-schoolers are among the 243 spellers who competed in Tuesday’s preliminary rounds with dreams of making the finals Thursday.
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