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May 31, 2007

R.I. spelling bee champ's wings clipped / Video

Rosa Nguyen, Rhode Island's competitor in the National Spelling Bee, met her match today in malacophyllous -- the word that ended her run after making it into the bee's semifinals.

She was close, with her only mistake an "o" where that second "a" should be, according to results posted on the Scripps National Spelling Bee Web site.

Rosa, the blilingual daughter of Vietnamese immigrants and an eighth grader at Deering Middle School in West Warwick, who won the statewide spelling bee in March, spelled several words that might make any of us sweat. In round four, for instance, she spelled transisthmian correctly. And in round five, she got umami right.

Extra: See a video interview of Rosa talking today about her experiences at the bee.

The bee championship finals are scheduled to air live on ABC tonight from 8 to 10.

The bee, which is being held this week in Washington, D.C., features competitors from around the country who aced their state spelling bees. It is a two-day competition that began yesterday.

Rosa won the state spelling bee, sponsored by The Valley Breeze newspaper group.

Rosa also knows her way around geography. She was the runner-up in the statewide geography bee this year.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 6:03 PM | Permalink

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Paul Dimodica | May 31, 2007 6:47 PM link

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