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2 Mass. students and 4 students from NH, Maine, RI, VT competing in Scripps National Spelling Bee

BOSTON — Two students from Massachusetts and four students each representing New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island and Vermont are among 231 elite spellers competing in the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee in National Harbor, Maryland, officials said.

The national competition began Tuesday and will last through Thursday. It is the 95th competition since the program began in 1925.

Tanoshi Inomata, 10, is a fourth grade student at Winship Elementary School in Brighton. Tanoshi likes singing, playing the piano, learning languages and geography, reading Japanese books and drawing, Scripps officials said in a statement. Tanoshi also likes to draw Japanese comics, and he uses his drawing skills to help him visually memorize the words that he missed while studying for the Bee.

Adarsh Venkannagari, 9, is a fourth grade student at the Paul P. Gates Elementary School in Acton. Adarsh is a voracious reader and considers himself a Harry Potter and Percy Jackson fanatic, Scripps officials said in a statement. He loves playing board games, biking in summers, skiing in winters, playing piano and is part of his school chorus and orchestra. Adarsh likes to play basketball and is a huge fan of the Boston Celtics.

Iris LaMoreaux, 14, is an eighth-grade student at Plymouth Elementary School in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Iris plays four sports competitively, Scripps officials said in a statement. She also plays the trumpet. She is active in the student council, Spanish club, math team, Mathcounts, concert band, and jazz band. She was the recipient of a 2022 National History Day Special Award for the website she created about the Equal Rights Amendment.

Evan Trieu, 12, is a seventh-grade student at St. Brigid School in Portland, Maine. Evan enjoys figure skating, tae kwon do, basketball, and running cross country and track, Scripps officials said in a statement. He plays three different instruments: piano, guitar and drums. His favorite subject is math, and he competes on the high school math team.

Penelope Sargeant, 14, is an eighth-grade student at Saint Margaret School in Rumford, Rhode Island. Penelope enjoys fantasy books and likes to draw in her spare time, Scripps officials said in a statement. She has been a Girl Scout for 6 years. She is also a part of her school’s Drama Club and Mock Trial Team. She would love to have a future career involving horses, possibly large animal veterinary science.

Elise Cournoyer, 14, is an eighth-grade student at Camels Hump Middle School in Richmond, Vermont. Elise’s passions are exploring the outdoors, including skiing, running, biking, climbing, and she enjoys art, ballet and jazz dancing and writing, Scripps officials said in a statement. On Fridays, she participates in an outdoor, community-building organization called ReTribe based in Underhill, Vermont, that offers healing teen retreats.

The national qualifiers advanced through local and regional bees that took place through early April. All rounds of this year’s national competition – preliminaries, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals – will take place at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.

“Bee Week is a truly unforgettable experience, combining the thrill and accomplishment of onstage competition with the joy of making lifelong connections offstage,” Corrie Loeffler, executive director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, said in a statement.

There are spellers from all 50 states. Texas has the largest representation with 21 national competitors. Ohio and California rank second largest with 15 each, followed by Illinois with 14.

Nearly 80 percent – 182 spellers – are competing in their first Scripps National Spelling Bee this year. The spellers range in age from 9 to 14.

The Bee will air on ION and Bounce. Here is the 2023 broadcast/livestream schedule (Eastern standard times):

  • The preliminaries will be streamed on ION Plus, Bounce XL and spellingbee.com from 9 a.m. to 7:25 p.m. on Tuesday, May 30.
  • The quarterfinals will be streamed on ION Plus, Bounce XL and spellingbee.com from 8 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, May 31.
  • The semifinals will be streamed on ION Plus, Bounce XL and spellingbee.com from 2:30-6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 31. A special semifinals broadcast will air on ION and Bounce later that evening from 8-10 p.m.
  • The finals will air live in primetime on ION and Bounce from 8-10 p.m. on Thursday, June 1.

The semifinals and finals will also air on Scripps’ other national entertainment networks Defy TV, Grit, ION Mystery and Laff. A rebroadcast of the finals will be available on Scripps News on June 2 from 9-11 p.m. and again June 3 from 8-10 p.m. The Scripps Networks can be found free over-the-air as well as on cable, satellite and streaming platforms.

For more information, visit spellingbee.com.

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