Corning Rotary announces Scripps Regional Spelling bee winners
The Leader
The Corning Rotary recently announced the winners of the 2021 Scripps Regional Spelling Bee, held March 27.
Joseph Rajaratnam, 9, of Corning, took first place. He is a third grader at Chemung Valley Montessori School in Elmira, and the son of Samuel Rajaratnam and Uma Yoganathan.
As champion, Rajaratnam will represent the region in the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee on July 8 at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida, which will be broadcast in primetime on ESPN2.
This year’s regional bee format was different from past years. Rather than competing in person, spellers took an online spelling and vocabulary test. The test consisted of 45 words and spellers had 30 minutes to complete it. Joseph was the only speller to have a perfect score. Words he had to spell correctly included azulejo, which is a kind of glazed, colored tile, and tumulus, which is an ancient burial mound.