The two brainiacs representing Colorado at the Scripps National Spelling Bee outside Washington, D.C., this week advanced through the first and second rounds of the competition Tuesday morning.
Vedanth “Ved” Raju — a seventh-grader from Aurora Quest K-8 who is sponsored in the Bee by The Denver Post — correctly spelled “faipule,” a Samoan native councillor heading a political district and belonging to a fono, according to Merriam-Webster.
For the second round, a vocabulary test, the 12-year-old knew that a pathogen is a specific cause of disease.
Blanche Li — an eighth-grader from Summit Middle School who is sponsored by the Boulder Valley School District — aced “Inuk,” a member of the Inuit people.
Blanche’s vocabulary round tossed “scrounge” her way, and the 14-year-old accurately identified it as meaning “to find our round up.”
Blanche and Ved are headed into Tuesday’s written test to determine whether they qualify for Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
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