FARGO- A West Fargo eighth-grader is among 48 semifinalists heading to competition today in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
Shantanu Srivatsa made it through the first three rounds Wednesday and Thursday after a written exam and correctly spelling "traumatropism" and "floribunda" onstage, according to Scripps' website.
This is the 13-year-old's third trip to the national contest, and he is the only competitor from North Dakota. He did not make it to the semifinals during the 2009 event.
The competition was narrowed yesterday from 273 spellers to 48.
Shantanu, a Cheney Middle School student, will compete onstage today from 9 a.m. to noon in the semifinals. If he makes it through that competition without misspelling a word, he advances to the championship finals round, which airs at 7 p.m. on ABC (Channel 6 in Fargo-Moorhead).
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