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Meet the Wisconsin 8th grader competing in the Scripps Spelling Bee

spelling bee
Maya Jean Jadhav
Posted at 9:24 AM, May 31, 2022
and last updated 2022-06-01 18:25:47-04

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD. — Wisconsin's lone speller, 13-year-old Maya Jean Jadhav from Madison, has been eliminated from the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee on Wednesday.

Maya misspelled "branzino"in the semifinals on Wednesday after advancing earlier in the day in the quartefinals.

Maya spelled "frazil" and "purloined" correctly on Tuesday. 234 spellers from across the country competed in spelling bee on Tuesday.

Maya competed this year after competing in 2018 (tied for 42nd place), 2019 (tied for 41st place), and 2021 (tied for 12th place), according to the Bee's website.

Maya has also won the Wisconsin state bee for four years in a row, 2019 to 2022, and has qualified for the Scripps Spelling Bee for five years in a row, from 2018 to 2022.

The eighth grader says she likes to travel and has been to all continents - except Antarctica.

TMJ4 is owned by The E.W. Scripps Company, the television and media company that runs the Scripps Spelling Bee.

Learn more on the Bee's website.

HOW TO WATCH THE SPELLING BEE

This year the Bee will be held in National Harbor, Md., after the 2020 Bee was canceled and the 2021 Bee was altered.

The competition begins at 8 a.m. central time Tuesday and wraps up Thursday evening. The champion wins $50,000 in cash, $2,500 in prizes from Merriam-Webster, $400 in reference works from Encyclopedia Britannica, a commemorative medal and the Scripps Cup.

Here’s how to watch this year’s Bee:

  • This year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee semifinals (live to tape, Wednesday, June 1, at 8 p.m.) and finals (live, Thursday, June 2, at 8 p.m.) are being televised on ION and Bounce. They will also be simulcast on Laff and TrueReal. The finals will re-broadcast on June 3 and June 5 on Newsy.
  • To watch the preliminaries, starting at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, May 31, and the quarterfinals, starting at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, June 1, go to free-streaming platforms on the ION Plus and Bounce XL channels. These are available via free apps on Smart TVs (Samsung TV+ and Vizio Watchfree+) and other free apps (Roku Channel and Pluto TV) that can be accessed through Smart TVs and connected TV devices like Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV.
  • The semifinals (beginning at approximately 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 1) and finals (beginning at 8 p.m. on Thursday, June 2) also will be live-streamed on ION Plus and Bounce XL.

Here is a look at the Spelling Bee by numbers:

- Returning finalists from last year’s Bee
- Akash Vukoti is competing in his fifth Scripps Bee. He was age 6 when he first appeared at the Bee in 2016
7 - Age of the two youngest competitors in this year’s Bee
45 - Returning competitors from previous Bees
165 - Contestants from public schools
7,900 - Miles traveled by Ana Guadalupe Villagomez to reach the Bee from Guam

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