Spellers begin taking the written test this morning. But some of them are already going home winners.
Outside the ballroom where the Bee is taking place, spellers and their families are able to take part in a faux-competition. If they spell a word correctly, they get a miniature trophy. Wrong? They’re sent home with e pack of tissues.
Dale Winand, speller 253, said he hoped he got some luck from 2016 co-champions Jairam Hathwar and Nihar Janga, whom he’d met earlier in the day.
It seemed to be working – he spelled “magnific” correctly, and will take home a trophy.
“At least I get to take this to school and say I won the Bee,” he said. “It feels great.”
Dale said he’s just a tiny bit nervous about the competition.
“It’s just a whole nation watching you,” he said. “Maybe some people from Canada.”
Ava Cloonan, speller 174, spelled “femininity” correctly to earn her trophy.
“It’s good to know even if I don’t win, I still have one,” she said.
Ava, an eighth grader, said she’s been watching the Bee since third grade. Being here, she said, is “unreal.”
“It’s so amazing to be here with all these people I just look up to,” she said. “It’s really just cool to be here. It’s really an honor.”