8th Grader Represents RivCo In National Spelling Bee: 2024

CORONA, CA — A Corona eighth grader was among the near-record number of young spellers vying for the national title in Wednesday's Scripps National Spelling Bee. This year, 148 made it through to the quarterfinals round from the original field of 245, the most significant number of competitors since 2019.

Avijeet Randhawa, who goes by Avi in the bee, correctly defined "woozy" as a person experiencing mild nausea in the fifth round of the competition, moving on to the sixth round.

In the quarterfinal, he correctly spelled "procellous," an adjective referring to stormy conditions, on Wednesday in the first round of the quarterfinals. As the round was completed, he was among the 59 spellers advancing, with 89 eliminated.

To get to the quarterfinals, he correctly spelled "palynological," an adjective related to a branch of science dealing with pollen and spores, in Tuesday's third round at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.

Avi was among the 45 spellers advancing to the sixth round, with 14 spellers eliminated.

The Auburndale Intermediate School student attacked the first word of the bee by correctly spelling raclette, a Swiss dish of melted cheese, typically eaten with potatoes. He then chose the correct answer to the vocabulary question, "What is a moratorium?" by selecting "a delay officially set by some authority."

There were 54 spellers eliminated in the first round, 15 in the second, 28 in the third, and 89 in the fourth.

Wednesday's meets were streamed from 5 to 10 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on ION Plus, Bounce XL, Grit Xtra, Laff More and spellingbee.com.

The semifinals will be broadcast from 5 to 7 p.m. on ION, whose owned-and-operated station in the Los Angeles market, which includes Riverside County, is KPXN-TV Channel 30. The network is also carried on many streaming platforms.

Avijeet reached last year's semifinals but was eliminated in the eighth round. He was among nine spellers tying for 12th—the 11 spellers who correctly spelled their eighth-round words advanced to the finals.

In 2024, Avijeet qualified for the national bee by winning the Riverside County Spelling Bee in March, correctly spelling crescendo, the final word in that competition.

Spelling LEGACY.

This is the eighth and final time a member of the Randhawa family is competing in the national bee. Since 2016, a member of the Randhawa family has won all eight county bees. The 2020 bee was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Avijeet's sister Aisha competed in the national bee from 2016-19, with her best finish coming in 2018 when she tied for seventh. His sister Lara was among ten spellers tying for 13th in 2022, reaching the quarterfinals in 2021.

Avijeet enjoys playing the video game Minecraft, pickleball, drums, guitar, and building large Lego structures. In his free time, he often plays basketball and goes on brief walks. He also likes to watch animals as they explore and live their lives.

The bee is limited to students in eighth grade or below who were born Sept. 1, 2008, or later. Contestants for the 96th edition of the national bee range in age from 8 to 15.

The bee will conclude on Thursday, with the winner receiving $50,000 from the Scripps National Spelling Bee, $2,500 and a reference library from the dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster, $400 in reference works from Encyclopedia Britannica, and a three-year membership to Britannica Online Premium and a $350 prize package from SugarBee Apple, including a SugarBee Apple gift basket and $250 gift card.

No contestant from Riverside County has won the bee.