Friday, June 4, 2010

Well, I tied for 20th, but my friend Elizabeth (#133) tied for 2nd place! She did really well. Anamika Veeramani, here for her 3rd time, won on stomuhr. Congratulations!
I correctly spelled my first word, kanban, in the Semifinals. Unfortunately, I missed my next word, icteritious, which means jaundiced. I tied for 20th place. My friend Elizabeth is still in the competition and will participate in the Championship finals on ABC tonight at 8pm Eastern. I was interviewed this afternoon by WCCO radio, and am being interviewed momentarily by KS95 again. Good luck to all the remaining spellers!

Radio!!

Just finished being interviewed by Greg and Melissa on KS95! It was fun, and they're good spellers too. Hopefully if you live in the MN area, you got to listen in, but if not they might put an audio clip up on their website in the next couple of days. Off to compete in the Semifinals!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Radio Interview

KS95 will be interviewing me tomorrow at 8:15 am Central Time. If you're able to tune in, I'd appreciate it! The interview will be fairly short- around 3 to 5 minutes.

AAAAAAAAAAAH!

I made the Semifinals!!!!!!! I can't believe it. We just got back from a dinner/logistics meeting, where they explained how the Semifinals work. I found out my written test score this afternoon, and I got 24 out of 25. I also correctly spelled my two oral words, prerogative and Beetewk. They were each worth 3 points, for a total of 30 out of 31. The cutoff was at 27. My friends Sonia, Elizabeth, and Neetu also made the cut. I was happy to see a French word, bouleversement, no the written test. Some other words that were on the test were tocsin, apollyon, and pusillanimous. Today, during the break between rounds, we visited Madame Tussauds wax figure museum, which was very cool. The figures are so realistic! I'm being interviewed again this year by KS95, but I'm not sure exactly when. I'll update when I find out more. You can watch me in the Semifinals at 10am Eastern on ESPN, and the Championship Finals will be broadcast live on ABC starting at 8pm Eastern.

Round 2

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Test Day!

Today was the big test! I'm not allowed to say much, but I think it went fairly well. I guess I'll find out tomorrow! By the way, I made a typo yesterday and said I'd know if I'm in the Semifinals tonight, but it's actually tomorrow. Today I got interviewed and filmed by ESPN. I'm pretty sure it will air at some point Friday during the Bee, but I'm not sure. I got to sit in a spinning, egg-shaped chair and be in a music video! It was a lot of fun. After the test, we walked around D.C. We took a tour of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, which was very interesting. I saw several hundred million dollars! We also visited the Holocaust Museum, which was very, very sad but also interesting. I'll see if I can post some of the pictures I took today. Tomorrow morning and early afternoon I'll be competing in the preliminaries, and at about 5:30 Eastern they'll announce the Semifinalists. You can watch round 3 of the preliminaries starting at 1:15 on ESPN3.com. I'm close to last in the first group, so I'll be spelling around 2:45 or so Eastern time. ~Anja Beth

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

D.C.!

We're in D.C.! It's a beautiful city. This morning, we were lucky to get a tour of the White House. It's fairly limited, but the rooms that are on the tour are really pretty. They have some amazing paintings. Today was the barbeque for all the spellers and their families. I've met a lot of new people! Tomorrow I have my Round One test (on the computer) at 9:30. That's the biggest part of what lets you qualify for Semifinals. It's 50 words long, but only 25 will count. I won't know my score and won't be allowed to say a word about the test until Wednesday night, after the spoken rounds. I've been studying hard, so hopefully I'll do well. Good luck to all the other spellers taking the test tomorrow! ~Anja Beth P.S. To my friends in MN- Miss you!

Friday, May 28, 2010

Almost There!

Only 3 days until we leave for the Bee on Monday!! I've been studying hard, especially focusing on French and German, along with the CWL. My dad and I are almost finished going through that again. Thanks to everyone who has wished me luck so far-I really appreciate it! ~Anja Beth

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Lots Of News!

I've been studying very hard. There only 23 days left until the Bee officially starts! I'm working on the CWL out loud with my dad, and I'm also studying words from languages that have uncommon spelling patterns, such as Hindi, Gaelic, and Russian. I've pretty much memorized Spell-It and the Study Guide for rounds 2 and 3, but I'll go over those one last time right before we leave. I got through the entire list of roots once, and I'm going through them again. They definitely help, especially in spelling words that come from Greek and Latin. I can hardly wait for the bee. I'm eager to see the friends that will be returning, and also to compete again. I'm hoping to make the cut to Semifinals this year. Exciting news! The Today Show contacted Scripps and told them that they would like to do a segment on the spelling bee, following one speller through preparation and competition. Scripps decided I'd be a good fit! The reporter will be flying out to Minnesota next week. I don't know precisely when the segment will air, but it won't be until after the spelling bee. Wishing luck to all the spellers out there, ~Anja Beth

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Update

Studying has been going well! I received a copy of the Study Guide for rounds 2 and 3 from Scripps and have mastered that with help from my dad. Today, I finished the Moderately Used section of the Consolidated Word List, a compilation of all the words used in Scripps National Spelling Bees up to 2004. It totals more than 23,000 words!
Our Spring Break trip to Colorado was a lot of fun. I had never skied Copper Mountain before, and they have some really great runs. The view from the top is spectacular. We also had a fun surprise- we ran into a friend of mine and her family! We got to ski with them for a while.
I'm so excited. Only 55 days until the Bee officially starts! This will be my 3rd trip to Washington D.C. in just over 2 years. We're looking at possible things to do while we're there, so suggestions in the comments are welcome.
Anja Beth

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Spring Break and Studying

It's Spring Break!!! I'll be leaving for Colorado tomorrow.
Studying is going well. I'm working on word roots and the Consolidated Word List, and I'm going over all the words they used in the later rounds last year. I'm so excited to be going back! We'll leave on May 31st.
On another note, there was an article about the spelling bee in the Edina SunCurrent yesterday, if you haven't seen it.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Regional Spelling Bee

I won my Regional Spelling Bee yesterday for the 2nd year in a row! I get to go back to Washington D.C. to compete in the National Spelling Bee, thanks to Lockridge Grindal Nauen, the law firm that's sponsoring me. I won on the word "sumo" after the second place boy, Paul, misspelled "fervorous". I'm already studying for Nationals, and one of my friends from last year, Sonia, will be returning as well! Congratulations to all who participated in my Regional bee and good luck to any aspiring spellers out there!
Anja Beth

Saturday, January 23, 2010

District Spelling Bee

I had the district spelling bee on Thursday and won! I'm very excited, and my friends did well too. I'll be participating in the Regional Bee again this year on March 13th. Thanks to Lockridge Grindal Nauen for sponsoring the bee again!
I've been studying a lot. I'm going back through the CWL and studying word roots and Spell-It, as well as a few other lists.
Bee season has started or will start very soon for most spellers. Good luck!
Anja Beth