Franklin Classical School eighth grader Rosy Kannankeril is heading to Washington D.C. to represent Tennessee for the 2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee in late May, after successfully spelling the word “stolon” to take second place in the regional spelling bee hosted by the Tennessee Titans on March 10th at Nissan Stadium.
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Kannankeril cycled through a list of correctly spelled words including “bezoar”, “madeleine”, and “intaglio” before the students went ‘off list,’ and conquered words including “fougasse” and “calcipotriene”. The regional bee was limited to the top 71 elementary and middle school spellers from more than 230 schools in west and middle Tennessee.
According to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Kannankeril is one of over 11 million students across the nation who participated in school spelling bees. Only a few hundred spellers will advance and make the journey to Washington D.C. for this nationally broadcast celebration of words.
“When she was 6, she sat down in front of the television and started watching the National Spelling Bee,” said Rosy’s mother, Ann Kannankeril. “She said, ‘I want to do that one day.’ And now she is! We’re so proud of her.”
Fourteen-year-old Kannankeril attends Franklin Classical School in Franklin, Tenn., where she enjoys math and science. She loves to spend time with her family, play board games, and play piano.
“Rosy is a delight to know and teach. Her eager mind and joy in learning enliven her conversations and our classrooms,” said Melinda Mahand, Academic Dean for Franklin Classical School. “We are proud of her accomplishment, and the entire school will be cheering her on.”
The Tennessee Titans have hosted the regional bee since 2015, becoming the first professional sports franchise to sponsor and host a regional spelling bee. To qualify for the regional bee, students must not only win their school bee, but also score in the top 70 of an online, semi-final spelling and vocabulary test created by Scripps and administered by school spelling bee coordinators. This year, a tie resulted in 71 spellers advancing to the regional bee. Both the first and second place winners from the Titans-sponsored regional bee earned an all-expense-paid trip to the 2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. in May. Additionally, they received online subscriptions to both the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary and Encyclopedia Brittanica, as well as the Samuel Louis Sugarman Award—a 2018 United States Mint Proof Set.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is the nation’s largest and longest-running educational program. The purpose of the Scripps National Spelling Bee is to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts and develop correct English usage that will help them all of their lives. Visit spellingbee.com for more information about the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which is administered on a not-for-profit basis by the E.W. Scripps Company.
Franklin Classical School (FCS) is Franklin’s premier K-12 Christian classical school, located in historic downtown Franklin, Tenn., at 408 Church Street. Classical education seeks to build wisdom in the hearts and lives of students by teaching them to love learning, think soundly, and communicate persuasively. This approach is based on the seven liberal arts contained in the Classical structure of the Trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric) and the Quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music). Originally started as a supplemental homeschool course led by Dr. George Grant, Franklin Classical School is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.
