NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Three Arkansas students are competing today at the 91st Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Twelve-year-old Pavani Chittemsetty of Bentonville qualified by winning the Arkansas State Spelling Bee, sponsored by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Dasha Blalock, 12, of Jonesboro, and Weston Sills, 13, of Farmington, earned spots on the stage by entering RSVBee, a new program that gives spellers an alternate route to the national competition.
As a result of RSVBee, there were 516 spellers who qualified this year. That’s up from 291 in 2017.
Pavani, who attends Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy in Bentonville, is the daughter of Murali Chittemsetty and Dhana Varikunta. A two-time state champion, she also represented Arkansas in 2016.
Dasha, a sixth grader at the Visual & Performing Arts Magnet School, in Jonesboro, is the daughter of Tim and Mary Ann Blalock. The winner of the Craighead County spelling competition, she finished third at this year’s state spelling bee.
Weston, an eighth grader at Randall G. Lynch Middle School in Farmington, is the son of Andy and Jocelyn Sills. The winner of last year’s Washington County Spelling Bee, this is his first trip to the Washington, D.C. area. To raise money to help pay for the trip he helped design and sell a bee-themed t-shirt.
The three Arkansans started their day by taking a preliminary multiple choice spelling test. That was followed by Round two. All three were awaiting their first words Tuesday morning.
