This morning, Round 2 of the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee commenced. The round started with 284 spellers. Unfortunately, a total of 34 spellers missed their words and were eliminated from the competition. Round 3 started with 251 spellers and saw 80 spellers eliminated. Unlike past years in which a study list was provided for Rounds 2 and 3, this year the only source of words for Round 3 was Webster’s Third Unabridged Dictionary.
In Round 2, I spelled lenticula correctly and was able to move on to Round 3, in which I spelled the word felicific. I certainly felt very felicific when Dr. Bailly told me I had spelled the word correctly!
Up to fifty spellers with the highest scores through Round 3 move onto the Finals which occur tomorrow morning and end in the evening. I am proud to announce that I am one of the 45 Finalists competing tomorrow morning! I received a beautiful medal and I am just so thrilled to be a Finalist representing my home state of Kentucky. Please see spellingbee.com for the broadcasting schedule.
the word explorer 
Congratulations on making it to the finals, Tara!!!
So happy for you Tara!
Wonderful! You’ve done a great job preparing, and you deserve your success. We all send you a big hello, and please say hello to Anya, too.
Congratulations Tara !
We’re following you from Florida and wish you another success. Love❤️
Your English class says hello! We are very proud of you for getting so far! We certainly didn’t know how to spell bakshaish either! Faith says especially hello . . . and everyone else. Elias is very sad right now. Come home and cheer him up. We love you!
I miss you all at LCA, especially the sixth graders! Thanks for all of your support and encouragement!