Rubina Wiedemer of Scappoose made it to the semifinals. Photo: Craig Hudson/Scripps National Spelling Bee
Oregon's only competitor in the Scripps National Spelling Bee made it to the semifinals yesterday, but was eliminated in the seventh round.
State of play: Eighth grader Rubina Wiedemer of the Fossil Charter School distance learning program was one of 24 semifinalists — out of 245 total — who competed in Washington, D.C., this week.
She was eliminated after incorrectly guessing the meaning of the word "shellacking," defined as a "a decisive or humiliating defeat."
Flashback: Wiedemer won the Portland Regional Scripps National Spelling Bee earlier this month, correctly spelling the word "auctorial."
Fun fact: The 14-year-old, who lives just outside of Scappoose, is an avid birder and poet. She enjoys playing piano and drawing manga characters in her spare time.
She also likes running, racket sports (like tennis and pickleball), sewing and gardening, according to her bee biography.
How it works: As contenders ace harder and harder rounds of spelling and word meaning challenges, they advance to higher levels (preliminaries, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals) — until a winner is crowned.
