CHICAGO (WLS) -- An 8th grader from Illinois advanced to the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals Thursday night.
Sahasrad Sateesh of Grayslake attends Lake Forest Country Day School.
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He made it to the top 12 by spelling "paleiform" correctly. That means chaffy or scaly, by the way.
In last year's competition, Sateesh finished in a tie for 21st place.
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Sateesh also enjoys practicing karate, having received multiple awards in tournaments. He also created a piece of artwork about the first National Spelling Bee champion, Frank Neuhauser.
Unfortunately, Sateesh spelled his word, "cypsela," wrong. A cypsela is a small, dry indehiscent one-seeded fruit. But the spelling bee organizers told him he's engineered for success regardless.
A total of 234 spellers have taken part in this year's competition. LeVar Burton hosted the finals.