Spelling Bee in port city

Students take part in the Spelling Bee contest at the Muslim Institute Auditorium, Chittagong yesterday. Photo: STAR

The Daily Star Spelling Bee Powered by Horlics added a pleasant colour to life in Chittagong as it made the way there for the divisional round.
The interest and enthusiasm of the people of Chittagong centring the event was palpable but mixed with it was an air of seriousness with the usual nervousness of the contestants, especially in the presence of all the dazzling lights and cameras in the Chittagong Muslim Hall yesterday.
Take for example Arushi Aggarwal, an Indian descent growing up in Chittagong and a student of class-VI in Cider International School. Although she is not a Bangladeshi passport holder (yet), thus becoming ineligible to continue further in the competition, she was adamant in taking part in the Chittagong Divisional round.
“She (Arushi) played the online game with so much enthusiasm because she always wanted to compete in the Spelling Bee,” says Arushi's slightly disappointed mother Vandana Aggarwal.
“But at least the organisers (champs21) have allowed her to take part in the written round of the contest and I am happy for that,” she was quick to add.
Vandana Aggarwal's comments reflect the outreach that the Spelling Bee has had all over the country so far (especially in its infancy in Bangladesh) and highlights the determined spirit generally associated with the people of Chittagong.
The competition started extraordinarily with 57 spellers moving on to the oral part of the competition from the 250 that started off in the written section. Initially only the top 50 scorers from the written round were picked to go through but the spellers performed so well that the judges were forced to pick seven extra spellers.
It took three more rounds of oral spelling to get eight winners for the television round and four more rounds of tiebreakers to get three more winners, making it a total of 11 spellers that advanced to the TV round.
Once again, the spellers did so well in the tiebreakers that 11 spellers were chosen for the TV round instead of the initially planned 10.
The names of the winners will be revealed on Channel i when the episode for the Chittagong Divisional round airs on March 29 at 7:50pm.