Two Bay Area students are hoping to showcase their brainpower this week as they take part in the 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee preliminary competition.
One is from San Jose and the other from Walnut Creek. They are among 275 spellers who advanced to the national competition in National Harbor, Maryland.
Varsha Senthil, 10, is a fifth-grader at Harwood Elementary in San Jose. She correctly spelled the word "assurgent," meaning curving upward, during the second round of the competition.
Kate Anoufrieva, 14, is in the eighth grader at Walnut Creek Intermediate School.She correctly spelled "aerobicize," meaning to improve physical condition by increasing the heart rate, during round two.
The top 50 students with the highest cumulative scores at the end of Wednesday will move on to Thursday's semifinals and then, they hope, advance to the Thursday night championship round which will be aired across the country on ESPN.
Bay City News
