Not everyone at this week’s competition appreciates the change.
“I feel like they should not have moved it. The old venue was better. Because it’s a bit of a hassle, getting on the bus and going there and then coming back,” said 14-year-old Yahya Mohammed, a three-time speller from Hoffman Estates, Illinois. “The old venue was more spacious, and it feels kind of isolated in the hotel.”
Built in 1929 by the Daughters of the American Revolution, Constitution Hall sits a few blocks from the Washington Monument and the White House. Spellers and their families are staying at the nearby J.W. Marriott, a favored haunt of lobbyists and interest groups, and the quickest route to the competition venue would normally be a stroll across the Ellipse, the grassy expanse south of the Executive Mansion.
At the prior venue, the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland, spellers moved freely throughout the building, roaming between their hotel rooms, the ballroom that housed the competition stage and a massive food court where they grabbed quick meals between last-minute study sessions.
“Last year was better,” said Arpit Aggarwal of Columbia, Missouri, whose daughter, Ananya, is competing for the second time. “Everything was in one place.”
“It’s an adjustment,” Ananya’s mom, Deepti Bahl, said diplomatically.
Other spellers appreciated the buzz of gathering downtown, saying it was more appropriate for a national competition. The bee began in 1925 and was held at a series of Washington hotels before it moved to the suburbs in 2011.
“I just love being here, right next to the National Mall. You can see the Smithsonian, you can see the Jefferson Memorial. It’s such a lively and unique city and I love being in the heart of it,” said three-time speller Oliver Halkett, a 14-year-old from Los Angeles. “There’s so much history, there’s so much culture. The memorials and the museums are fascinating to go to.”
Speller Andie Seavey of Fairbanks, Alaska, and her mom, Kristin, went to see the musical “The Great Gatsby” at the National Theater next door to the hotel.
After 80 spellers were eliminated Tuesday during onstage spelling and vocabulary rounds, the remaining 167 competitors reconvened at the hotel for a high-stakes written test that determined the 100 or so who would move on to Wednesday morning’s quarterfinals. The competition concludes Thursday night.
Faizan’s flub let his two remaining competitors back in, since all three misspelled during the round.
Kushi Gottimukkala of Morrisville, North Carolina, is one of a few spellers competing this year who know what that feels like.
Kushi rode the emotional roller coaster and ultimately got through.
“I was still thinking about the mistake, but I was also really grateful that I got a second chance, and so I took that into consideration and decided to focus on my next word,” she said.
Spellers have to prepare for the possibility that missing a word isn’t necessarily the end.
Oliver Halkett, too, has competed in a bee where he got a word wrong but wasn’t eliminated. He battled through the disappointment by focusing only on the word in front of him.
“It’s a peculiar situation, but I think, above all, mental clarity is so important, especially in those latter rounds,” he said. “I close my eyes and do some deep breathing and I visualize the word, and it’s just me and the word. That’s how you have to approach every single word.
“Treat every word as if it’s your first and last word.”
