12-year-old Wisconsin boy makes semifinals of 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee, ties for 21st place
A 12-year-old Wisconsin boy advanced to Wednesday's semifinals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. He was eliminated in Round 7, tying for 21st place.
Aiden Wijeyakulasuriya was one of 231 spellers this year to advance through regional spelling bees to become a national competitor. There are four segments to the competition: the preliminaries, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. The finals are Thursday night.
Wijeyakulasuriya, Speller No. 230, is a seventh-grader at Blessed Sacrament School in Madison, according to his bio on the bee's website. He was sponsored in the competition by the Wisconsin State Journal.
On Tuesday, during the event's first round, Wijeyakulasuriya spelled the word "bahuvrihi" correctly. In that round, 172 spellers advanced and 59 were eliminated.
During Round 2 Tuesday, he correctly answered what the word "meridian" means to become one of the 139 spellers to advance, with 32 eliminated.
In the third round Tuesday, Wijeyakulasuriya spelled "burpee" correctly, advancing to the quarterfinals — 121 spellers moved forward that round and 19 were eliminated.
"Aiden's spelling skills have almost inspired us to do some burpees....almost," the Scripps National Spelling Bee tweeted Tuesday night.
During Round 4 Wednesday morning, Wijeyakulasuriya spelled "glomerulonephritis" correctly, as 73 spellers advanced and 48 were eliminated.
Later Wednesday morning, in Round 5, he correctly answered what to "forswear" something means. He was one of 56 spellers to advance to the semifinals, as 17 were eliminated.
In Round 6, Wijeyakulasuriya spelled "ctenidium" correctly to become one of the 22 spellers to advance, with 34 eliminated.
Wijeyakulasuriya was one of two spellers eliminated in Round 7, another round based not on spelling a word but defining it.
If you "obviate" something, you "disguise its true nature," he said. But the correct answer was "make it unnecessary."
Wijeyakulasuriya and Faizan Zaki of Texas tied for 21st place. Twenty spellers moved on to Round 8.
This wasn't Wijeyakulasuriya's first time competing in the National Spelling Bee. In 2019, he tied for 51st place.
When Aiden isn't spelling, he enjoys tennis, Taekwondo, piano, oboe, Boy Scouts, traveling, playing games with family and writing, per his bio on the bee's website.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin boy, 12, makes Scripps National Spelling Bee semifinals
