Spelling Bee 2nd round begins today

The divisional round of The Daily Star Spelling Bee contest begins today from Sylhet division.
A total of 140 students who qualified in the online round are expected to participate in the contest at 10:00am at the Jalalabad Gas Field Company auditorium in the divisional headquarters.
The contestants will face a written competition followed by an oral one. The top six spellers of the division will go to the third level of the contest -- the TV round.
To similarly pick six winners from each division, the Spelling Bee team will visit Chittagong, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna, Barisal and return to Dhaka by March 27.
With a slogan “Goodbye spelling mistakes,” the first-ever spelling contest in the country has drawn attention of thousands of students from all over the country.
Online education material provider champs21.com is organising the contest.
Around 122 schools from across the country, including 60 from Dhaka and 12 Cadet Colleges, were visited by the champs21 crew to pick the top spellers from each school.
This made for some compelling competition in the first round whose online game proved even more fascinating. For example, the one between Mehedi Hasan of Dhaka Residential Model College and Sunjack Jesun of St Joseph Higher Secondary School who scored 2,652 and 2,557 to become first and second in the online contest.
They also happen to be the top two scorers in the country and are unlikely to be faced with some tough challenges with the third highest scorer having 1,530 points.
“I was the top scorer when Mehedi [Hasan] came in but then he toppled me and we have been competing hard ever since. Still, I think I can get a higher score than his,” says a determined Jesun.
He adds that the online game has not only helped expand his vocabulary but also his fluency in English greatly. Even though he has his usual pressure of academic and extra-curricular activities, he makes sure that he takes time for spelling practice.
“I read the Spellato and also play the online Spelling Bee game for at least three hours, three days a week, whenever I get time,” he says.
Sunjack Jesun and Mehedi Hasan might have an intense rivalry but they also respect each other.
“I expect nothing but the best from him [Jesun],” says Mehedi.
Asked if he feels pressure for the next round, he said, “I try not to put pressure on myself but I'll definitely give it my best shot.”
Mehedi became fourth in the competition's school round. He had little chance to make it through to the divisional round as only three top spellers were chosen for that round from each school save from Cadet Colleges.
But he put all that past him in the online game.