By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 31, 2023 — Wes Underwood, Bahamas National Spelling Bee (BNSB) champion, on Tuesday successfully completed in Rounds One and Two of the preliminaries in the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland, near Washington, D.C.
He correctly spelt “Apabhramsa” and got the correct meaning of “legume”, but in Round Three of the Preliminaries, he was eliminated on the word “roughage.”
“We are grateful to all of our sponsors, especially the MOE and BPL, the entire Eleuthera community and Bahamas-at-large, and last, but not least, Coach Bevil Clarke. Your support, prayers and encouragement meant a lot!,” Celestina Williams, chairperson of the Bahamas National Spelling Bee Committee and head The Bahamas delegation that accompanied Underwood to D.C., said in an email posted on Facebook.
She noted that Team Bahamas “is very proud of Wes.”
The Scripps National Spelling Bee welcomed 231 spellers to National Harbor, Maryland, for the national rounds of its 95th competition..
A total of 139 spellers started Round 3 and 121 of them moved on to Wednesday morning’s Quarterfinals.
Spellers come from 50 states. Texas has the largest representation with 21 national competitors. Ohio and California rank second largest with 15 each, followed by Illinois with 14. Eleven qualifiers are from outside the 50 United States, representing The Bahamas, Canada, Germany, Ghana, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.
Monday of Bee Week was a day filled with fun activities. Spellers attended “Camp Bee,” where they could practice their STEM, LEGO and sewing skills, and they enjoyed a carnival with new friends and their families. And Bee Week officially kicked off with the Opening Ceremony, including a live performance by The Linda Lindas.
Here are the 11 spellers who will compete in the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee finals on Thursday night:
#9 Dhruv Subramanian, from Danville, California
#19 Vikrant Chintanaboina, from San Ramon, California
#20 Shradha Rachamreddy, from San Ramon, California
#21 Arth Dalsania, from Thousand Oaks, California
#36 Dev Shah, from Largo, Florida
#103 Aryan Khedkar, from Waterford, Michigan
#172 Pranav Anandh, from Morton, Pennsylvania
#119 Sarah Fernandes, from Omaha, Nebraska
#192 Tarini Nandakumar, from Austin, Texas
#213 Surya Kapu, from Salt Lake City, Utah
#223 Charlotte Walsh, from Merrifield, Virginia
