Oregon Boy Represents At Scripps Spelling Bee 2018

More than 500 spellers will take part in 2018’s Scripps National Spelling Bee, which officially kicked off Tuesday in Maryland. Of the 519 participants taking part in the annual competition, one boy will represent Oregon.

Kabir Rathore Muthu, 13, bested the local competitors at Oregon's Regional Spelling Bee in March to earn his spot at the national level.

A seventh grader at ACCESS Academy in Portland, Muthu is sponsored by the Portland Tribune, a Pamplin Media Group publication.

The preliminary rounds take place Tuesday and Wednesday and the finals will be held on Thursday, May 31. On Tuesday and Wednesday, you can watch the Bee on ESPN 3. For the finals, tune into ESPN 2 from 10 a.m. - 2p.m. eastern for Part 1 and for Part 2, tune into ESPN at 8:30 p.m eastern.

The preliminaries consist of a multiple choice test and two rounds of spelling onstage, known as round 2 and round 3 respectively, Scripps explains. Spellers are eliminated for spelling incorrectly in either of the onstage rounds. After rounds 2 and 3, no more than 50 spellers head to the finals. (Read the full competition rules here.)

Muthu in rounds 2 and 3 correctly spelled both "politico" and "luminiferous".

Check back with Patch and we’ll keep you updated with how Muthu performs.

And if you’re curious about whether you have what it takes to compete in the Bee, you can take the preliminaries test to find out.

Top image used with permission, via Mark Bowen/Scripps National Spelling Bee