Three students from Connecticut are among the best young spellers in the United States and they will be representing the state at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Maryland next week.
The three Connecticut students competing are Janelle Newell, a seventh-grade student from Bridgeport's Multicultural Magnet school; Roderick Chittem, an eighth-grade student from Bethel Middle School in Bethel; and Charles Fennell, a sixth grader from Carmen Arace Intermediate School in Bloomfield, according to officials from Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society, which hosted the Connecticut Spelling Bee.
Newell is the Connecticut Spelling Bee champion. Chittem came in second and Fennell tied for third place.
Scripps National Spelling Bee Week starts on Monday, May 27 with a written preliminary round quiz.
Newell, who is speller #48; Chittem, who is speller #24; and Fennell, who is speller #111, are in Scripps Group 1.
Group 1 spellers take the stage in Round 2 on Tuesday, May 28 from 8 a.m. to 9:35 a.m. and spellers in Group 1 who advance to Round 3 will spell again on May 28 from 4:45 to 6:30 p.m.
Any Connecticut spellers who make it to the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals will be announced at 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday, May 29 and the finals will take place on Thursday, May 30 beginning at 10 a.m.
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How do you think you would do at the National Spelling Bee? Take the test that spellers took in 2018 and find out.
