NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Maine spelling champion Lily Jordan had no â¨problem handling the bright lights and big stage of the 2011 Scripps â¨National Spelling Bee on Wednesday.
Jordan, 14, is one of just 41 spellers – out of 275 National Spelling â¨Bee contestants – headed for Thursday’s semifinal round after spelling â¨both of her on-stage words correctly, and scoring well in the first â¨round – a 25-word written test taken Tuesday.
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“I am really excited,” said Jordan, who made it to the national contest â¨last year but didn’t make it past the preliminary rounds. “I’ve never â¨done this before.”
The eighth-grade Cape Elizabeth Middle School student, participating in â¨the national contest for the second year in a row after her win in the â¨Maine State Spelling Bee earlier this year, walked out to the microphone â¨twice Wednesday and walked away successfully both times after correctly â¨spelling “egregious” in the morning round and “Nostradamus” in the â¨afternoon session.
Jordan missed just two words on the written test. It has been a tough â¨competition – contestants who missed more than two words on the written â¨test or either of the on-stage words failed to make the semi-finals.
The 98th speller in Wednesday morning’s first round, Jordan asked for a â¨definition of “egregious,” said the word again, and then did a little â¨practice spelling by writing on her hand.
She then calmly spelled “egregious” correctly, and walked back to her â¨chair to the applause of the crowd.
Afterward, Jordan said she was “pretty nervous” as she approached the â¨microphone, but was relieved and happy to correctly spell the word, one â¨she knew well. It is an adjective whose definitions include: “remarkable â¨for good quality,” “conspicuous for bad quality or taste,” ⨓extraordinary” and “extreme,” according to the Bee’s official Webster’s â¨Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged.
In the afternoon round, Jordan seemed to have little problem tackling ⨓Nostradamus,” a word meaning one who professes to foretell future â¨events that is taken from the name of a French physician and astrologer â¨who died in 1566.
Jordan said after the round that she knew the word as soon as she heard â¨it, especially given the number of references to the end of the world â¨recently in news stories about predictions that the “rapture” would â¨occur May 21.
The national contest culminates tonight with a championship final live â¨on ESPN from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. This morning, 41 competitors will take â¨the stage for the semi-finals, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on ESPN, during â¨which a single misspelled word knocks the speller out of the competition.
The Bee’s location is new this year. Instead of being held in a downtown â¨D.C. hotel, as it has been for a number of years, the competition is â¨being staged at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel and Convention Center â¨in National Harbor, Md., about 15 minutes outside of Washington.
Jordan earned her way to the National Spelling Bee by winning the Maine â¨State Spelling Bee, which was sponsored by NextGen and hosted by â¨MaineToday Media Inc., which publishes the Portland Press Herald/Maine â¨Sunday Telegram, the Kennebec Journal in Augusta and Morning Sentinel in â¨Waterville, the weekly Coastal Journal in Bath and their respective â¨websites.
The winner of the 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee will win an array â¨of prizes, including $30,000 from the main sponsor of the Bee, the E.W. â¨Scripps Company; as well as a $25,000 U.S. savings bond from â¨Merriam-Webster, the dictionary publisher. Cash prizes also are awarded â¨to other finalists, including $12,500 for second place and $7,500 for â¨third place.â¨â¨
MaineToday Media Washington Bureau Chief Jonathan Riskind can be â¨contacted at 791-6280 or at jriskind@mainetoday.com
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