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No TV time for local spelling bee contestantsMay 28, 2009 (The Fayetteville Observer - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Could you spell propiophenone? How about terebinthinate? The Cape Fear region's local contestants did, but it wasn't enough Wednesday to see them through to the semifinals of the 2009 National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. Derek Chan of Hope Mills and Nivesh Varma of Lillington dropped out because they didn't score high enough in Tuesday's preliminary round, in which each contestant had to spell 50 words on a computer. The results from 25 of those words were combined with their performance in the second and third rounds on Wednesday to determine the 41 semifinalists. None of the 11 contestants from North Carolina, out of a field of 293, advanced to the semifinals. The National Spelling Bee final will be televised by the ABC network at 8 tonight. Chan, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Hope Mills Middle School, said he missed five words in the computer test: Civitas, micawber, mores, onychorrhexis and quomodo. "I had no idea how they were spelled, even after looking at them," said Chan, whose trip to the national bee was sponsored by The Fayetteville Observer. Chan admitted he was "a bit" disappointed to miss out on the semifinals but planned to spend the rest of his first trip to D.C. sightseeing. After spelling "skeleton" in the second round Wednesday morning, the first held before an audience, Chan was faced with "propiophenone" in round three. But he said he knew it as soon as he heard it, from study materials contestants were given beforehand. Likewise, Varma -- a Harnett Central Middle student who won his county bee and was sponsored by the Harnett County Business and Education Partnership in Dunn -- aced "terebinthinate" after handling "convertible" earlier in the day. But he, too, was undone by the computer test, falling just short of a semifinal spot. Both local students were at the national bee for the first time, each in their final year of eligibility as eighth-graders. And while neither made national TV, both stepped up to the microphone and made the most of their moment by getting their words right under the spotlight. According to the Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary, propiophenone is a flowery smelling chemical compound used in the manufacture of perfume. To terebinthinate is to impregnate with the qualities of turpentine, according to Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. Staff writer Gregory Phillips can be reached at [email protected] or 486-3596. To see more of The Fayetteville Observer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.fayettevillenc.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, The Fayetteville Observer, N.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |