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SPA Michael Sun is on his way to compete in the 2018 Spelling Bee finals

Source: Scripps National Spelling Bee media release

Cincinnati, OHIO — More than 500 spellers will have a chance to compete for the title of Champion at the 2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee, to be held in National Harbor, Maryland, May 29-31.

This record number of spellers, 516, comes with the introduction of RSVBee, an invitational program that has created more opportunities for champion spellers to compete in the national finals. The Bee invited 238 qualified spellers through RSVBee.

Sponsors of regional bees wrapped up their local events in April, with 278 local champions qualifying for the national finals.

“Bee Week is a special experience that challenges the mind and warms the heart,” said Paige Kimble, executive director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. “To welcome more spellers than ever to compete exemplifies the evolution of our program and the vast interest from families across the country. With RSVBee, we are leveling the playing field for national finals qualification and providing more opportunities for students to experience all the thrills, friendships and memories that come from the event.”

To qualify for RSVBee, spellers had to win their school spelling bee or be a former national finalist and attend a school enrolled in the Bee program. Parents applied on behalf of their child and paid a $750 participation fee to accept an invitation.

ABOUT THE 2018 SPELLERS

The 516 spellers registered for the 2018 Bee come from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Department of Defense Schools in Europe and eight other countries: the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

For American Samoa, the Samoa News Territorial Spelling Bee — with major sponsor McDonald’s American Samoa — the winner is Michael Sun, an 8th grader out of South Pacific Academy. He joins the tradition of SPA winners, which now number 4 — taking his school to the #1 spot of winners of the local territorial Spelling Bee, since it began in American Samoa in 1995.

He’s also the 17th eighth grader to win the territorial Bee — which again keeps the eighth graders at the top of the winners’ list, while becoming only the 5th male to win.

Michael is fourteen years old, and also placed first in the 8th Grade category of the Territorial Math Competition and placed second (with his group members) in the Group Website category of the Junior Division of the Island Wide National History Day Fair. He is a member of the Dolphin Chapter of the National Junior Honor Society.

We congratulate Michael and wish him the best in the upcoming Scripp’s National Spelling Bee — representing American Samoa. He and his chaperone left for the event this morning and we hope for a safe and successful journey.

The national Spelling Bee spellers this year range in age from 8 to 15. For the first time, there are two sets of identical twins competing in the national Spelling Bee; and a total of 113 spellers have previous experience competing in the national finals. Forty-five spellers have relatives who previously participated in a combined 99 Scripps National Spelling Bees, including Atman Balakrishnan, a sixth-grader from Chicago, whose father, Balu Natarajan, is the 1985 Champion.

BEE WEEK SCHEDULE

After registering on Sunday, May 27, all spellers and their families will enjoy a Memorial Day picnic and opening ceremony on Monday, May 28. The Preliminaries Test will take place the morning of Tuesday, May 29, followed immediately by onstage spelling for Round Two.

Students who spell correctly in Round Two will advance to Round Three on Wednesday, May 30. Scores tabulated from the Preliminaries will determine the no more than 50 spellers who advance to the Finals on Thursday, May 31. The Bee will crown the Champion(s) from the dozen or so spellers who advance to the Thursday night Finals, broadcast live, on ESPN.

The Bee posts daily photos to Flickr during Bee Week. The photos are searchable by speller number. Example: Use “2018speller10” to view photos of Speller 10. Please give photo credit to: Mark Bowen/Scripps National Spelling Bee. 


The Bee on ESPN:

For the 25th consecutive year, ESPN and its family of channels will provide coverage of the Bee. Onstage spelling follows this schedule (all times Eastern): Tuesday, May 29:
• Round Two runs from 9:15 a.m. to about 5:20 p.m. (streaming live on the ESPN App). Wednesday, May 30: 
• Round Three from 8 a.m. to about 5 p.m. (streaming live on the ESPN App).
The announcement of Finalists is at about 5:10 p.m. (streaming live on the ESPN App).

Thursday, May 31: The Finals begin at 10 a.m. and run until about 2 p.m. (watch live on ESPN2; play along on ESPNU; and streaming live on the ESPN App). After a break, the primetime Finals continue from 8:30-10:30 p.m. (watch live on ESPN; play along on ESPNU; and streaming live on the ESPN App).

About the Scripps National Spelling Bee:

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is the nation's largest and longest-running educational program. The purpose of the Scripps National Spelling Bee is to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives.

Visit spellingbee.com for more information about the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which is administered on a not-for-profit basis by The E.W. Scripps Company.