WASHINGTON — This week, 245 spellers are competing in the National Spelling Bee. One hundred and seventy six of them advanced to the third preliminary round, including the two students from Wisconsin.
“It’s an experience you’re not able to get anywhere else,” said Aiden Wijeyakulasuriya, an 8th grader at Blessed Sacrament School in Madison.
Wijeyakulasuriya is here for his third and final time. He previously competed in 2019, where he tied for 51st place, and in 2023, where he tied for 21st place. He said he was inspired to participate when he watched his school spelling bee in second grade. His favorite word is cynghanedd, which is related to Welch poetry.
“I came across it once while studying, and I thought it looked pretty interesting,” he said. “And I clicked on it to see the pronunciation. And I distinctly remember thinking that it just looks nothing like it’s pronounced.”
Wijeyakulasuriya practices his spelling three to four hours a day and said consistency is most important. It’s a mentality the other Wisconsin speller has, too.
“These two months, I’ve excessively been studying 1,000-3,000 words a day,” said Nethraa Muthupandiyaraja, an 8th grader at Forest Park Middle School in Franklin, south of Milwaukee.
This is Muthupandiyaraja’s first and last time at the National Spelling Bee, since she’ll be too old to compete next year. She felt nervous going into Tuesday’s preliminary round.
“It’s my last year and I can’t go back,” she said. “And even if I know the word, there are lots of mis-slips of the tongue.”
Muthupandiyaraja said she discovered she enjoyed spelling when she competed in her school bee and says it took a lot of practice getting to the national competition.
“And it felt really good,” she said.
Both Muthupandiyaraja and Wijeyakulasuriya advanced out of the first two preliminary rounds. Muthupandiyaraja spelled “pampootie“ and defined “glissando” correctly. Wijeyakulasuriya spelled “oviparous“ and defined “sabermetrics“ correctly.
Wijeyakulasuriya said if he places anywhere in the quarter- or semi-finals, which will happen Wednesday, he’ll be happy. For now, he’s soaking in the experience of his last National Spelling Bee, before he ages out.
“There’s a lot of studying, so that maybe to some it might be a little relief, but for me, it’s going to be a little sad,” he said.
The first National Spelling Bee was in 1925, and the last and only time a speller from Wisconsin won the competition was in 1991.