Schools

Chesterfield Speller Knocked Out of National Spelling Bee

Gokul Venkatachalam stumbled on the word "epichoric" in the sixth round after making it to the semifinals for the second year in a row.

Chesterfield spelling bee champ and Gokul Venkatachalam is out, falling in the sixth round of competition at the National Spelling Bee Thursday afternoon. 

His departure from the stage marks the second time Gokul has made it to the sixth round -- and the second time he was undone by the letter "h."

After successfully fielding the unusual smellfungus (a captious critic, a faultfinder) in the fifth round, he stumbled on epichoric, meaning "peculiar to a limited area," after spelling it "epicoric."

Last year, the word that knocked Gokul out of the competition was "kahikatea," a kind of New Zealand evergreen tree, when he also left out an "h."

However, it's still a remarkable achievement for the 12-year-old from Parkway West Middle School, who spelled his way through round after round earlier this year to be one of 281 participants in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. 


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