Scripps Spelling Bee 2018: Meet The Connecticut Spellers

More than 500 spellers will take part in 2018’s Scripps National Spelling Bee, which officially kicked off Tuesday in Maryland. Of the 519 participants taking part in the annual competition, five are from Connecticut.

The preliminary rounds take place Tuesday and Wednesday and the finals will be held on Thursday, May 31. On Tuesday and Wednesday, you can watch the Bee on ESPN 3. For the finals, tune into ESPN 2 from 10 a.m. - 2p.m. eastern for Part 1 and for Part 2, tune into ESPN at 8:30 p.m eastern.

The preliminaries consist of a multiple choice test and two rounds of spelling onstage, known as round 2 and round 3 respectively, Scripps explains. Spellers are eliminated for spelling incorrectly in either of the onstage rounds. After rounds 2 and 3, no more than 50 spellers head to the finals. (Read the full competition rules here.)

Here are the Connecticut spellers taking part in the competition:

Jerry Li, 13, from E.C. Adams Middle School in Guilford

Aritra Banerjee, 11, from West Hill School in Rocky Hill

Arin Bhandari, 13, from Hopkins School in West Haven

Roderick Chittem, 13, from Bethel Middle School in Bethel

Janelle Newell, 11, from Multicultural Magnet School in Bridgeport

Check back with Patch and we’ll keep you updated with how the Connecticut spellers perform.

And if you’re curious about whether you have what it takes to compete in the Bee, you can take the preliminaries test to find out.

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